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I

ȴ

Satbatu College lifcrars

J. HUNTINGTON WOLCOTT FUND

velue, (lie preference to be given to
-lu of Hittcry, Politicn] Economy, end

> bequest in hie will.

GENERAL FOCH
AT THE MARNE

AU rights reserved

General Foch

GENERAL FOCH
AT THE MARNE

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIGHTING IN

AND NEAR THE MARSHES

OF SAINT-GOND

BY

CHARLES LE GOFFIC

TRANSLATED PROM THE FRENCH
LUCY M'ENZIES

LONDON a TORONTO
J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON « CO.

S

MAR i? 1920

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

M. le Goffic's book entitled Les Marais de
Saint-Gond deals with the six days' fighting which
immediately succeeded the arrest of the French
retreat, when the French soldiers were at last allowed
to turn round and fight the all-conquering Germans,
before whom, for strategic as well as for more ob-
vious reasons, they had been forced to retreat
during many bitter days and nights» Heavy sacrifices
had been demanded of these men ; " that even when
victorious they should retreat, that they should hold
partial successes as nothing, that they should possess
their souls in patience» ♦ ♦ ♦ They had been told that
they were making a strategic retreat* They believed it
at first, but the more the retreat was prolonged, the
more suspicion crept in ♦ ♦ ♦ and in these last days
their hearts had been sick within them at the thought
of the great tracts of their own country they had been
forced to cede to the enemy " — and that without
striking a blow in their defence»

An outstanding feature of the Battle of the Marne
was General Foch's masterly handling of the Ninth
Army» Ferdinand Foch was born at Metz in 1652, and
was therefore only a young student at the outbreak of
the Franco-Prussian war» He was educated in Paris
at the École Polytechnique— the Woolwich of France —
and according to the law of the French Army, had to
serve as a private before he could pass the examination
qualifying for a commission» Promotion in the French
Army is, in the lower ranks, partly by seniority and

vi Foch at the Marne

partly by selection, but after the rank of major it is
by selection alone* Only the best men, therefore, come
to the front» For service on the staff, a further course at
the École Supérieure de la Guerre is followed by two
years* probation on the staff of some branch of the
army other than that of the candidate's own unit»
These tests being duly passed, the time of the staff
officer is divided between his own unit and service on
the staff, but every promotion must be preceded by
two years* service with his own unit» So that the staff
of 1914 was — very different from the staff of 1870— in
touch with every part of that vast organisation, the
Army of France»

On the outbreak of war Foch was a corps com-
mander» He was already well known to students of
military strategy as one of a brilliant group of French
officers whose writings» " inspired by the theories and
practice of Napoleon» were among the most striking
evidences of the renascence of the French Army/' Foch
was a professor at the staff college» the École Supérieure
de la Guerre, and he was the author of several standard
books on tactics and strategy, Les Principes de la Guerre,
De la Conduite de la Guerre, etc» When General Joffre
formed part of his reserves into a new army, the Ninth,
he gave the command of it to Foch* whose merits he
had been quick to recognise — that "short, quick-
moving» clear-glanced soldier " of the grey-blue eyes»
who was also a scientist and a philosopher» Already
master of the science of war, he was to translate the
strategy of the text-book iilto achievement on the
battlefield» And with his absolute mastery of technique
he combined a faculty for taking a wide grasp of a
situation, a quick perception, and a genius for co-

Translator's Preface vii

ordination» " But his greatest virtue/ 9 writes ML le
Goffic, " was his tenacity, a • calculated tenacity/ And
yet that would not have been enough without his marvel-
lous gifts both as a technical expert and a soldier, which
allowed him to vary, according to circumstances, the
tactical opportunities of the units engaged, to invent
every day a new disposition for his troops. This fer*
tility of resource, this fine sense of manœuvre, these
perpetual rebounds — these are what constitute true
military genius/'

As an example of almost prophetic foresight, a
quotation from Foch's Preface to De la Conduite de la
Guerre, written in 1904, is full of interest to-day and
explains much of the success we have come to expect
from the forces under his command»

44 For many well-known and self-evident reasons, 19
he wrote, " armies of the present day are condemned
to long periods of peace» Now and again at long
intervals they may be sent on an expedition against the
black races of Africa or the yellow races of Asia : but
there one has to war rather against disease, against
climate, against difficulties of victualling and trans-
port, than against an organised enemy» The life of
the nation with all its diverse activities— commerce,
industry and so on — is hardly modified at all by such
distant expeditions»

44 Then all of a sudden, Europe finds itself shaken
to its foundations» Extreme tension is set up on every
side» Dark clouds appear on the horizon» The storm
breaks» It is war on a gigantic scale : terrible in its
beginnings, tragic in its results»

44 Faced by such a situation, so deeply charged with
consequences, public opinion is troubled, bewildered»

viii Foch at the Marne

Anxiety is all the greater that the whole nation is torn
from its peaceful occupations to try its fortune by arms,
to demand of arms its destiny* And a nation will not
brook deception. It demands victory from its officers,
from its staff, from its commander-in-chief. Are they
really prepared i Are they ready i

44 For years they have devoted meticulous care to
the administration, feeding, clothing, instructing of
their army : have they also prepared for the activities
of war i Are the officers trained to form rapid appre-
ciations and judgments of situations, as well as in the
conduct of the various operations of war i In the long
intervals of peace, when the army was diverted from
war, that 'terrible and passionate drama/ the real
purpose of its existence — has it become antiquated
and useless i

" In order to keep the brain of an army tuned up to
its highest pitch, working at its keenest activity, to
keep it — in time of peace — constantly focussed on war,
nothing is more important, more charged with useful
lessons, than the study of history.

** For war, regarded on its highest level, is the
conflict between two wills, more or less powerful and
enlightened : the justice of its decisions is still governed
by the same considerations as in the past : the same
mistakes are still to be recognised, leading to the same
defeats : the art of military strategy is still drawn from
the same sources.

44 It is from this piont of view that the present study
has been undertaken. It has been attempted, in parti-
cular, to reconstruct the spirit and activities of the
various headquarters. ' He who would understand the
art of war must set himself to understand those who

Translator's Preface ix

make war» It is in the headquarters that the key to
military history is to be found ' (York de Wartenburg).

" And reflecting on the dark days of 1870 in the
light of this advice, one is not afraid to reiterate yet
once again : In memoriam : in spent* 9

One cannot but be attracted by the personality of
General Foch, " whose life has been devoted to trans-
lating philosophy into the terms of the casualty list,
whose speech, by its logical precision betrays the
mathematician, by its rapidity the man of action/ 9 He
is the living exponent of his own gospel — the develop-
ment, from a military point of view, of spirit and
character, a development constantly maintained in
the light of the highest ideals of Duty : he has trained
himself to see things in their true perspective, he has
the intuition of the born leader and that technical
mastery which guarantees the accomplishment of any
operation he decides to undertake* This is amply
proved by his record of the last four years, at Nancy,
on the Marne, at Ypres — where after a gas-attack the
British owed much to Foch's support — in Flanders, in
Artois, and in the Somme offensive of 1916* In all
these operations he showed brilliant qualities, but it
was on the Marne that he achieved the most striking
results» Under circumstances full of dread anxiety to
the ordinary mind, as, for example, when his right
wing had been driven back, when an important posi-
tion had been lost, Foch is to be found calm and serene,
able to issue a confident and reassuring bulletin,
" Situation excellent x offensive to be vigorously pro-
secuted. 1 ' He is ready, from his expert knowledge, to
undertake the most audacious of manœuvres:; he
knows his men, he knows that he can demand of them,

x Foch at the Marne

«

even when wearied with many days' fighting, with want
of sleep, want of food, not only that their old positions
shall be held at all costs, but that new positions shall
be taken* For according to General Foch, " to hold
positions is to prepare implicitly for defeat, if nothing
further is attempted, if the offensive is not immedi-
ately assumed/' It is easy to understand with what
strength and confidence such a leader inspires his men»
They know he will not demand the impossible from
them, that what he does demand is therefore within
their powers* He takes them into his confidence» " It
is necessary/' he once said to them, " either to kill
these Prussians or to conquer them/' And the Bretons
he was speaking to replied simply, " Very good/' as
much as to say, It shall be done» All onslaughts of the
enemy seem powerless to disturb the calm serenity and
confidence of the " imperturbable Foch/' In face of a
particularly violent attack, he would explain it to his
staff» " Bah," he would say, " when the enemy attacks
us so furiously, it is because he is desperate, because
things are going badly with him elsewhere and he is
seeking compensation/' His optimistic philosophy
carries him still further, for he holds that it is morally
that battles are lost and won» " A battle lost/' he says,
44 is a battle which one has expected to lose/' and con-
versely, " a battle gained is a battle which one has
expected to gain, in which one will not admit oneself
defeated»" And in reading M» le Goffic's account of
the swaying fortunes of the Battle of the Marne, one
is inclined to agree that Foch won the battle simply
because he would hot admit himself defeated, because
he believed always that he could win it» Even when
forced for three successive days to retire, he renewed

Translator's Preface xi

the offensive each morning, and finally when the enemy
made one false step, Foch fell on him with lightning
rapidity, because Ûs intuition had led him to foresee
the movements of the enemy, to summon another
division to his aid, which he was thus able to throw
into the battle at the psychological moment* General
Jofire had brought up the Ninth Army as one of his
reserves, and the fact that the German position was
deteriorating while that of France was improving, is
borne out here in a striking way* For it was into the
gap left in the German lines by the withdrawal of
troops from von Hausen's Saxons, and from von
Bulow's army, that Foch drove the wedge of the Ninth
Army» " This fine manœuvre/' says M. le Goffic,
44 has been regarded as the decisive action which deter-
mined the fate of the battle — or, at least, precipitated
that fate/ 9 It is probable that von Bulow's retreat had
already begun, but there is no doubt that Foch's
manœuvre hastened it and made it partake of the nature
of a catastrophe* It was during this retreat that the
Prussian Guard, hurrying across the Marshes of Saint-
Gond, was said to have left both men and guns in their
deadly embrace* That was the legend» But the reality
was even finer than the legend* " That which was
swallowed up in the marshes, that which foundered
definitely in their green depths, was more than a few
crack battalions — it was the prestige of the German
army and of its pretended invincibility/'

In an English edition of this book it may not be
superfluous to give the reader some idea of the position
of the Marshes of Saint-Gond and of their surround-
ings* The Champagne-Pouilleuse, over which much of

xii Foch at the Marne

these six days* fighting took place, lies east of the Forest
of the Argonne* It is a vast plain, ** like a petrified
ocean, where for forty miles from east to west, and for
more than a hundred from north to south, stretch these
dreary steppes, where heaths and chalky moorlands are
broken by patches of crop, by shapeless coppices, and
by large new plantings of little firs ♦ ♦ ♦ on whose
melancholy levels it has for a thousand years been
prophesied that the Armageddon of Europe would be
fought/* *

To the east again of these vast fiats rises the plateau
of Sezanne, with the deep valley of the Marne running
through it» " In the chalky soil of the Sésanne plateau
lies a pocket of clay, ten miles long from east to west,
and of a breadth varying from one to two miles*
Through this pocket flows the Petit-Morin, now a very
small stream ; indeed, here lie its springs, and it and its
affluents have been canalised to prevent flooding* The
clay pocket is called the Marshes of Saint-Gond ; they
are now almost wholly reclaimed, and between acres
of rank grass the various rivulets run in deep ditches»
♦ ♦ ♦ In fine weather the place is dry enough ** — the
cultivated parts at least — " but in heavy rains the clay
soil of the marshes becomes one vast quagmire/* *

M* le Goffic deals only with the battle as seen from
a small corner of the marshes — there is, therefore, no
mention of the part played by the British in the
victory* It was no small part* Von Kluck's disdain
for the British, to which he openly left his flank un-
covered as if no danger was to be feared from so small
an army, led to his flank being turned and so to his

1 Buchan, History of the War, voL u. p. 155»
* Op. tit. p* 169*

Translator's Preface xiii

retreat* The British Army was fighting beyond and
in Haison with the Fifth French Army, commanded
by General Franchet d'Espérey, whose name figures
often in these pages»

When all is said and done, the Victory of the Marne
has in it still something of the mysterious, the inex-
plicable* All through. M» le Goffic's narrative we
see the waves of inspiration on which these French
soldiers were uplifted and borne irresistibly forward»
In reading the moving account of the charge at
Coizard, where M» de Beaufort rushed forward at the
head of his battalion crying, " Forward, my lads 1
Courage 1 It is for France 1 Joan of Arc is with us I "
one cannot but remember that the Maid led her
soldiers over this very part of France, that these men
were fighting not so far from Domremy, from her
home, where voices from an unseen world had come
to urge her to great deeds for France» And one wonders
if perhaps the vast, wide fiats of Champagne, the haunt*
ing mystery of the marshes, brought the same message,
the same war-like mysticism to these brave soldiers,
leading them to lay their lives gladly down for France
— to prove themselves no unworthy compatriots of the
Maid»

L» M»

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

Translator's Preface v

The Marshes of Saint-Gond i

L The Preliminaries of the Battle 7

II. The 6th of September 25

IIL The tth of September ' 50

IV. The 8th of September 70

V. The oth of September 98

VI. The Dawn of Victory 130

APPENDIX
Further Details of the Great Battle . ♦ ♦ 143

The Aeroplane Incident at Petites-Loges — Vert-la-
Gravelle during the Invasion — The Battery of the
Castle of Vert — Major Limal and Captain de
Nanteuil at Coizard — Accounts of the German
Occupation — Extract from the Diary of a German
Officer — The Plundering of the Castle of Baye —
Extract from the Report of the Commission of
1914 — The Priory of Saint-Gond — Prince Eitei's
Trench — Captain Cuttoli's Company at Oyes —
The 77th at Mondement — Nozay, Morains, and
the Grave of Sergeant Guerre — Aviation in Foch's
Army — The Battle-field of Normée — The Surprise
of Vnieseneux — How Foch had Two Bridges —
The Spies — The Ponds of Austerlitz and the
Marshes of Saint-Gond.

xiv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

/General Foch

y VlLLBVENARD

/The Marshes of Saint-Gond

y The Church and Bridge of Saint-Prix

• The Tower of the Marshes at Mondement
*t The Church of Somhesous .
v A German Trench on the Marne •
v The Entrance to the Priory of Saint-Gond
^ The Belfry of Reuves ♦
v Label found in the Trench of Prince Eitel

• Mondehent ♦...♦.

• The Fanion of the 2nd Battalion of the 77TH
y Remains of the German Battery of 105's •

/ GouRGANçoN ....♦•
y Map of the Battle Region

Frontispiece

facing page

8

»»

3a

p»

49

tt

80

t»

97

ft

11a

ft

lag

tt

144

9t

160

tt

\

176

ft

192

t»

208

ft
tt

216
230

XV

TO MY COUSIN

Colonel VICTOR LETULLE

&

GENERAL FOCH AT THE

MARNE

THE MARSHES OF SAINT-GOND

In the early days of July, 1916, I was stationed at
Villevenard, a little village of three hundred inhabitants
on the edge of the Marshes of Saint-Gond* That
district is not over-melancholy : the war has tried it
but little. The roofs of some houses have been damaged
by bombs, but they were French bombs and did as
little damage as possible. The great devastation is
elsewhere, on the other side of the Petit-Morin, where
German shells rained down on Reuves, Oyes, Broussy,
Bannes, and so on. The mere skeletons of these villages
which encircle the marshes made Villevenard seem
almost cheerful in comparison ; even the church — a
beautiful example of Roman architecture, as are most
of the churches of this neighbourhood — has hardly
suffered at all from the bombardment* And at the
Mairie, after the departure of the German troops,
M. Roland, the schoolmaster, who is also a keen exca-
vator, found his collection of prehistoric and Gallo-
Roman antiquities intact, and in the order in which he
had classified them, with the exception of the gold and
silver articles which had been stolen.

2 Foch at the Marne

I spent many hours in that little museum, of which
even more important places might well be proud* The
history of the marshes may be better learned there
than from books* Between two discussions on pre-
historic flint implements and the curves of sea-shells of
the Eocene formation, 1 M+ Roland told me his personal
experiences of the invasion* He had kept â journal of
everything that happened at Villevenard from the 3rd
till the iath of September, 1914, He also told me of
other sources of information which I could follow out
in the neighbouring villages if I wished* I think he
would even have liked to introduce me to the Abbé
Millard, the last hermit of Saint-Gond, an indulgent
ecclesiastic and a historian of high rank*

I was already acquainted with the history of Saint-
Gond, for I had read an old book by the Seigneur of
Breuvery, where it is stated that the Priory of Saint-
Gond or Gaond, two leagues from Sezanne and
formerly called Saint - Pierre - en - Oyes, was a fine
abbey founded by the saint about 660* Gond was a
nephew of Vaudregesil, a mayor of the palace, and was
related to King Dagobert, who brought him up in the
same eminent piety which he himself professed* They
both forsook the court in 654, under the reign of
Clovis II*, and retired to a place called Fontenelle,
whence Gond, on the death of his uncle, and after
having dwelt in many places, betook himself to another
district called Oyes— ** a beautiful valley, abounding in

1 What is known by geologists as the French Eocene basin is rich
in flints and fossûs, and these M. Roland had apparently been excavat-
ing from the caves near Villevenard* (Translator's Note*)

The Marshes of Saint-Gond 3

meadows, richly wooded, encircled by low-lying hills
and presenting a veritable solitude/ 9 Gond built a
church at this place which he dedicated to St» Peter,
also little cells for himself and those religious who
were with him»

Such was the origin of the abbey» converted later
into the priory which has given its name to the marshes»
Must I confess that at first sight the marshes dis-
appointed me a little i They are longer than broad»
and one cannot appreciate their full extent except
from the buttresses of Saint-Prix or the heights of
Mont-Août» Although it is not altogether correct
to describe the valley» in the words of the Seigneur
of Breuvery. as "very beautiful/' it is at least
true that there is nothing rugged in its nature» I
longed» in spite of myself* for certain marshes in
Brittany, and especially for those of Yunn with
their wonderful depth of feeling» What a strange
region that is ! No fields» no trees» no houses» nothing
but solitude in all its nakedness» except towards Bot-
meur with its narrow strip of green pasture-land» Life
there seems to be still in its most primitive stage» Were
it not for the pickaxes of the quarrymen and the melan-
choly cries of the little herdsmen of Arrhée» who call
from one mountain to another while pasturing their
flocks on these slopes» one might imagine oneself on a
planet still in state of formation» And that curious
Sabbath-stillness which seems to cling to the barren
hill-tops of Yunn» hills which overtop each other
towards the horizon — which seem to be ruffled up by
the wind like a petrified mane !» » »

4 Foch at the Marne

Here there is nothing of that sort» We are on the
borders of Brie and Champagne» Under a sky of power-
fully modelled clouds we see a land of precise angles
and carefully designed divisions* a realism naturally
enforced by the direction of the sun and the disposition
of the waters* The marshes themselves dry up from
year to year* Large tracts of them have already been
reclaimed by cultivation along their borders* And in
addition* straight lines of tall poplars along the high-
roads and the banks of the Petit-Morin intersect them
diagonally» cut them up* divide them into sections» and
give them a certain geometrical character* Here is none
of that vague infinitude of reeds and rushes which
makes so powerfully for the romantic* But at certain
hours in the evening the marshes seem to dilate under
the mist ; indeed even during the day an air of mystery
seems to haunt them*

History* if not poetry* hangs around them* Three
great human avalanches have come to expire on their
banks* They saw the first convulsions of Attila* They
closed over the last hurrahs of the soldiers of Marie-
Louise» when the remnants of Pacthod's army» fleeing
from the " tempest of horses " which surrounded and
fought them on all sides» rather than surrender» threw
themselves living into the marshes which swallowed
them up» 1 And in September* 1914, the Prussian Guard

1 The soldiers of Marie-Louise were the conscripts of 1S14, pro-
bably so called after the Empress» They were commanded by Generals
Pacthod and Amey, when* on March 25» 1814» they were overwhelmed
at Fère-Champenoise by the troops of Blûcher and Schwartzenberg*
It was while attempting to escape from these forces that — rather than
surrender — they threw themselves with one last Hurrah I into the
marshes» (Translator's Note*)

The Marshes of Saint-Gond 5

in its turn left its prestige there. One might therefore
expect the nights on the marshes to palpitate — full of
tragic shadows. But when I climbed up the slopes of
Chenaille at the darkening, by the little footpaths
through the vineyards, I felt no presentiment of fear or
dread. The marshes lay sleeping peacefully beneath the
moon. The croak of a solitary frog was the only sound
to be heard over these vast flats. Ruins bear witness to
the war even here, but Nature's gentle hand is already
effacing the scars.

I set myself first of all to examine these ruins. I had
brought some books with me, 1 notably the Bataille de
la Marne, by Gustavç Babin, the best and most
accurate of guides. The books explained the places ;
the places in their turn served as commentaries on
the accounts of the historians. Once or twice they
contradicted each other.

Such was the dictation to which the following pages

1 Books, brochures and articles : La Guerre en Champagne, published
under the direction of Mgr. Tissier, Bishop of Chalons ; Mondement,
by Asker ; Au centre de la bataille de la Marne, by L. Néret ; La Guerre
sur le front occidental, by Joseph Reinach ; De Liège à la Marne, by
Pierre Dauzet ; Les Batailles de la Marne, by P, Fabreguettes ; Les
Champs de Bataille de la Marne, by Gervais-Courtellemont ; Paysages
de Guerre, by Gabriel Faure ; Visions de Guerre, by Florian-Parmentier.
I must also acknowledge the help I have received from private note-
books, letters, and communications by word of mouth, all of which
were most kindly put at my disposal, and by whose aid I set myself to
disentangle a particularly confused subject, to put generalities aside
and enter into details. Without such help it is clear that I could never
have written a book which aims at a certain precision, and which is
the first book of this kind— dealing with the central part of the opera-
tions of the Marne— which has been offered to the public

6 Foch at the Marne

were written* They have no military pretensions ; they
may even bring a smile to the face of the professional
soldier ; they describe the battle as seen by a civilian
from a small corner of the marshes whence he tried to
construct for himself some idea as to the course of
events in the centre of the French line» In the almost
complete absence of official documents, the historian
of to-day has now more than ever to content himself
with the approximate truth.

The Preliminaries of the Battle 7

THE PBEUHINAiaES OF THE BATTU

On the morning of September 3, 1914, the inhabitants
of the villages which lie round the Marshes of Saint-
Gond heard the roar of cannon for the first time
from the direction of Vervins» The battle was drawing
near» The enemy was already sending over his scouts,
small Taubes which seemed to glide down over the
hills, poise for a few moments above the rushes and after
climbing up again to the necessary height, fly back to
their own lines* 1 A body of French cavalry passed about
ten o'clock riding from the camp of Chalons — they were
from the remount camp which was being evacuated —

1 They did not all return. On the morning of September 3, near
Sillery-le-Beaumont, a Taube was brought down by our troops, one
of its occupants was killed, the other was made prisoner. " At eight
o'clock the aeroplane incident. ... It excited great curiosity. A
crowd rushed towards the scene of the fall. Burial of the German
who was killed/' (Journal of General Moussy.)

Abstract from the notes of Élie C . • • of the 77th regiment : "On
Thursday, September 3, ♦ ♦ . while the 77th was resting in the vine-
yards, a Taube suddenly appeared from behind a hill. The aviators
did not seem to see the regiment at first ; they advanced confidently,
flying so low that our men thought they were going to alight. But
the Taube suddenly began to rise ; the alarm was given ; rifles went off,
a machine gun came into action, the Taube was brought down about
one kilometre away, among the vines, its pilot wounded, its observer
riddled with bullets* 99

8 Foch at the Marne

■

towards Montereau» General Prot with three com-
panies of the 7th dragoons and the 4th and 15th chas-
seurs/ left Sezanne at the same hour» 2 We had at
that time no intention of establishing our line of re-
sistance on the Marne ; the re-establishment projected
by the generalissimo was to take place further south,
probably towards the Aube* 8

Indeed, during the course of the day the inhabitants
were requested by public proclamation to take " any
anqs in their possession " to the fyairie ; the post-
office officials received orders to send all their valu-
ables, cash-books, and ledgers to Sezanne» The
afternoon passed without incident, but during the
night the roads which led down on to the marshes
from Saint-Prix, Villevenard, Joches, Aulnizeux, and
Morains-le-Petit were filled with marching troops»
At one o'clock in the morning/' writes M» Roland,
we were awakened by the barking of a dog and a
ring at the door-bell» The wives and little children
of two soldiers of the Étoges brigade had come to
throw themselves on our hospitality» A little later and
other doors also were being knocked at ; voices were

1 The chasseurs correspond to our mounted rifles*

* La Guerre en Champagne* (Account of the Abbé Renaudin, Arch-
priest of Sézanne J

• " The troops will fall back on the Aube, if need be, as far as the
Seine* Everything will be subordinated to preparations for the success
of the offensive»" (Report on the whole of the operations. Bulletin dés
Armées da 3 au 5 Décembre, 1914O "Septembers The generalissimo
advised Marshal French, the Minister of War and the Governor of
Paris that it was impossible to consider at that time a combined
manœuvre embracing the whole of our forces, on the Marne/'
(Documents published by the Renaissance of September 2, 1916.)

44

The Preliminaries of the Battle 9

heard in the night, no longer in isolated groups but
in bands of fifty, a hundred, or in even larger numbers»
The immigrants were overflowing now in every direc-
tion. Pale, hollow-eyed, stiff-limbed, they surrendered
themselves speechlessly to the refuge which the com-
passion of the inhabitants opened out to them. But
fear is stronger even than fatigue. Hardly had they
rested when they fared forth again ; others took their
place. It was a human torrent which now poured
down towards the marshes and which was increased by
new affluents at every turn of the road : one could
imagine oneself back in the days of the great barbaric
migrations, , , , On the road from Oyes, an old mare,
her back broken by the weight of her load, lay on her
knees in the dust, the little girl who was leading her
flung her arms round the faithful animal's neck in a
last farewell, , , , In front of the Auberge des Renard a
mother sang softly to her dead child as she rocked it
tenderly in her arms, refusing to be parted from it, , ♦ ."
Most of these immigrants came from the Argonne
and the Ardennes, For forty-eight hours they passed
in crowds along the roads. They were questioned ;
they knew nothing save that the enemy was advancing
by forced marches and that the horizon behind them
was aflame. The thunder of the cannonade became
ever more distinct. But the natural calm of rural
populations preserves them from any foolish panic.
They do not give way to excitement;. From the villages,
and even from isolated farms, it was only the men
who fell to be mobilised under the next levy who went
away. At Villevenard, Abbé Rouyer was about to hide

io Foch at the Marne

the younger members of his flock among the rushes,
44 to evade the first contact with the enemy/' when an
artillery officer represented to him that in the event
of bombardment that virgilian refuge might well be
unsafe* The Abbé then directed his party to the
convent of Andecy and was about to return to Ville*
venard himself ♦ But he was stopped on the road and
turned back*

Billeting officers appeared at the Mairie on the morn-
ing of September 4 to arrange for quarters* They had
no time to lose, for our troops were expected in the
afternoon* They were units of the Ninth Army, at
first only small detachments (August 29), joined on
September 4 by the DCth army corps, General Dubois ;
the Xlth, General Eydoux ; the 42nd infantry division,
General Grossetti ; the 9th cavalry division, General
de l'Espée, and two reserve divisions attached to the
DCth and Xlth army corps, the 52nd infantry division,
General Battesti, and the 60th, General Joppe* 1 This
army, half of which had retreated from Belgium while
the other half arrived from Lorraine, 2 had been

1 Contrary to general belief, the Morocco division under General
Humbert did not form an autonomous division, and had been attached
to the DCth corps from. August 20, replacing the 18th division (General
Lefèvre) detained in Lorraine (with the exception of the 36th brigade
and a battalion of the 37th) until September 6, the date of its de-
parture for Troyes, where it became incorporated in Foch's army*

* This explains how the concentration of the various units was not
yet completed on the 5th* Therefore the 18th division, of which
mention was made in the preceding note, and which was at Nomény,
did not come into line until the evening of the 7th. But on the other
hand, the 60th reserve division, which has sometimes been errone-
ously represented as a fresh division, had operated since the beginning

The Preliminaries of the Battle 1 1

placed under the command of General Foch, who came
straight from Nancy where he had given proof of his
powers at the head of the XXth corps*

The Ninth Army knew nothing of the intentions of
the generalissimo* But rumours were abroad which
were not lost by the quick ears of these shrewd people of
Champagne — " It is the last day of our retreat ; ' * l we
are preparing for " a battle of great importance/' *
Momentous decisions* however carefully guarded* can
never be kept in complete secrecy ; there is always an
atmosphere around them* something of the nature of a
halo, which gives them away* Perhaps also* in this case*
the decision of the generalissimo accorded too well
with the profound desires* the ardent hopes* of
these men of whom* even when conquerors as at
Guise* at Launois* at the Fosse-à-1'Eau, at Berton-
court* it had «been demanded that they should still
retreat; that they should hold as nothing partial
successes which were only to be considered as episodes ;
that they should possess their souls in patience till the
hour of destiny should strike* They had been told that
they were making a strategic retreat in echelons* They
believed it at first* But the more the retreat was pro-
longed the more time did its insidious work* the more

of the war with the Fourth Army, and had been through the Belgian
campaign under the command of General de Langle de Cary. It had
been in action notably on the Semoy, at Donchéry, at Tourteron, had
taken part in the retreat from the Meuse to the Aisne» had then been
in camp at Chalons» where it had been attached to Foch's army.

1 Journal of M. Roland.

* La Guerre en Champagne. (Journal of the Mother-Superior of
Andecy.)

1 2 Foch at the Marne

suspicion crept in, and in these last days the men's
hearts were sick within them at the thought of the wide
tracts of their own country they had been forced to cede
to the enemy* Like angry children they stamped on
their rations, which the good sisters of Andecy after-
wards gathered up for their hens* An African officer
gruffly demanded absinthe in a shop* When the sales-
man refused to serve him he seized the bottle forcibly :
44 So much the worse ! " he cried* " One drowns hypoc-
risy as best one may 1 " And another called out to the
schoolmaster* " You and your pacifist preachings are
the cause of all this 1 I hate you ! I detest you 1 "

The bitterness of the retreat, combined with a frenzy
of patriotism, had exasperated them even to injustice*
The superior officers, holding themselves under better
control, kept silence* General Petit, who slept in the
Presbytery at Villevenard, and whom Abbé Rouyer
asked " if there was danger i " replied evasively, " that
he knew nothing, that the French army was executing
a plan known only to the grand staff* The mayor and
the schoolmaster fared no better with the colonel*
44 What were the people to do i To go or to stay i u —
44 One would see to-morrow*" But at eleven o'clock
that night the troops departed noiselessly* The French
were still retreating, and that was a disappointment for
the people of the marshes — as if, under any circum-
stances, French soldiers could fight with the marshes
behind theml The contingents which followed did
not halt in the villages* Infantry, artillery, cavalry,
pressed on immediately in the direction of the marshes*
The wounded told how they had repulsed a night

The Preliminaries of the Battle 1 3

attack near Verzy ; 1 others described how the German
artillery stationed near Monthelon had bombarded
them at Ëtoges* Verzy lies to the north of the Marne ;
Ëtoges is only a few kilometres from the marshes* A
new pattern of enemy aeroplane flew over the hills and
swooped down in a volplane like a hawk* But its
advent had been signalled : a French machine went
up to meet it, shots were exchanged and the enemy
made off* 1

But he had seen what he wanted to see : our troops
in retreat over the whole line ; the northern border
of the marshes undefended ; the roads clear in all
directions* It was now the morning of September 5»
Guns thundered from Montmort, Ëtoges, and Congy*
Our rear-guards, which had set out from Oger-Pocancy
during the night* 8 came only to defend the marshes*
and there was such a short distance between them and

1 " A night attack at Pctitcs-Logcs on September 4 was repulsed
at half-past three by the 9th company : 3 killed* xa wounded, includ-
ing the lieutenant who commanded the company. Four prisoners
were taken and about 30 helmets/' (General Moussy's Journal of the
Campaign») This attack was repulsed by the 68th, which formed a
brigade with the 90th regiment (see Appendix).

* " A German aeroplane coming from Étoges volplaned down in the
direction of Vfllcvenard. A French machine went up to meet it,
and after exchanging a few shots, the enemy made off in the
direction from which he had come* I proposed sending up a
spreading rocket, but the authorities did not approve. 9 ' (M.
Roland's Journal.)

* The main army was encamped a little lower down, at Roufiy,
Voipreux, Vertus, etc. The 52nd division (reserve) had already arrived
at Coligny and Pierre-Morains. " Arrived at Voipreux at two o'clock
(afternoon of the 4th). Lunch. Village empty, carts of emigrants full
of women and children* The picture of desolation and of our im-

14 Foch at the Marne

the advance enemy patrols that the inhabitants asked
anxiously, " Whether our men would still have time to
get as far as the Petit-Morin and destroy the bridges
behind them i " But not a single explosion was heard,
except from the direction of Coisard where the little
iron footbridge was blown up. 1 Anxiety was becoming
intense* Was the French army, perhaps, to continue
its retreat and to abandon also the southern shore of
the marshes i — these marshes which it would be so
easy to defend ; which every one had thought would
form the last barrier, providentially placed in the way
of the invasion* We agonised exactly as if it were already
determined not to utilise the marshes ; we seemed to
have forgotten the historic function of this great
natural trench, many kilometres in extent !

By 8 o'clock on the morning of September 5, part
of the left of von Bûlow's army had entered Baye, which
was hardly a league from the western extremity of the
marshes* By that beautiful road, the " ru " de Toury,
which leads down a gentle slope through the deep
shadows of the wood, the Uhlans descended towards
Talus-Saint-Prix, patrolled the village, then passed on
to the bridge over the Petit-Morin, which they crossed
unmolested : the finest highway of the marshes had
fallen — without a blow being struck — into the hands of
the enemy ; the way was open towards Mondement*
The enemy had only to follow it up* But no doubt

potence* « • ♦ Left 2*45 (morning of 5th) by Bergères-les-Vertus,
Êcury, Fère-Champenoise, for Œuvy»" (General Mouss/s Journal
of the Campaign*)

1 The footbridge was certainly blown up* But there is some doubt
as to whether it was blown up by our troops or by the Germans*

The Preliminaries of the Battle 1 5

von Bûlow, who did not hesitate to push his right
towards Esternay, wanted to wait till the extreme left
of his Second Army had linked up at Vertus — to the
north-east of the marshes — with the Saxon regiments
of von Hansen, which had come down from Tours-
sur- Marne and from Condé, and which could not
arrive till near midday. 1 One knows that the quarter-
ing of German troops is carried out in echelons, so
that one part of the army continues the march while
the other part rests» But taking everything into con-
sideration, and even although Vertus — a strategic point
of the highest importance — possessed a net-work of
excellent roads, radiating out in all directions, it was
difficult for the extreme left of von Bulow and for the
Saxons of von Hausen to reach the marshes before two
or three o'clock in the afternoon* This delay allowed
us to recover ourselves, and the incomprehensible
hesitation which seized the German army before the
marshes, which it had attained but which apparently
it could not make up its mind to cross, was the saving
of the French*

But by degrees* from Saint-Prix to the outskirts of
Morains, over the whole northern slope of the hill*
44 grey tunics " descended the slopes and found their
way into the vineyards ; it was like an " invasion of

1 " Towards midday, Saxon regiments quartered themselves peace-
ably in our town and in our houses* They took possession in a
methodical way and paid no attention to the local authorities. One felt
that they knew the place, and that their time before the war had been
well spent in the service of their country* They form part of von
Hausen's Third Army/' (Cantonal Archives of Vertos.)

1 6 Foch at the Marne

field-mice/' Sheltered in their cellars, the villagers
awaited the shock which could not now be long delayed*
In some places they demanded admittance to those
burial vaults, hollowed out in the soft stone of the hills,
which had recently been excavated by Baron de Baye
and M* Roland . But the enemy did not move from
the borders of the marshes. It has been supposed that
the enigma of these vast marshy plains, the secret of
these still waters — which had opened to conceal the
golden casket of Attila — filled the enemy with a
mysterious stupor. Or, perhaps, before engaging in this
doubtful region he wished to assure himself of the
support of his heavy artillery. Whatever the cause, he
felt his ground cautiously through his scouts ; at the
same time a German patrol from Saint-Prix threw itself
on Vert-la-Graveile and crossed an arm of the water in
the direction of Morains-le-Petit. The grip of the
pincers was beginning to tighten.

With a little more rapidity of execution, a little less
defiance on the part of their high command, the Ger-
mans could have closed on the marshes from that
instant. For a vigorous offensive launched against
Mondement before midday could only have met with
a feeble resistance from us. And Mondement was
regarded as the strategic key of the marshes. The
reason of this was that Joffre's general order, a wonder-
ful improvisation of the night, had not yet reached the
staff of the Ninth Army, which, conforming to previous
orders, continued its retreat towards the south. The
Xlth corps was to advance on Sommesous, the IXth
on Gourgançon, the 42nd reserve division on the right

The Preliminaries of the Battle 1 7

bank of the Aube* 1 General Franchet d*Espérey also
refusing battle, fell back in conformity with the same
orders behind the line of the Grand-Morin. Von
Bulow's right, which came down from Montmirail,
had thus carried Soigny, Le Gault, Charleville that
forenoon without resistance ; it was to enter Esternay
that same night, where its patrols, operating in the
direction of Champguyon, had captured thirteen of our
patrols, who a few minutes earlier had been amusing
themselves knocking down pears from the trees by the
roadside. According to all available information, the
German front, which since midday had curved sharply
from the forest of Gault to Villeseneux, was seeking to
straighten itself out on a line passing through Fère and
Sezanne and embracing the marshes*

It would have been tempting for a general like Foch
to try to profit by the hesitation of the Germans and to
oppose the straightening of their line, had it not been
even more important to keep strictly in line* with the
general front of the French army. Almost till midday
Foch was able to think that this front inclined towards

1 *' Wc left Vertus early this morning, we were to go south of Fère-
Champenoise, to Corroy, but the order, so impatiently awaited,
arrived from the general staff towards midday," etc. (Asker, Monde-
ment) " Weather cool and cloudy till eleven o'clock, then sun and heat»
At Fère-Champenoise, counter-orders ; instead of taking the offensive
to-morrow behind the Aube, we are to form a shield at Mont-Toulon»
A delicate movement/' (General Moussy's Journal.) " The advance
guard of the 151st had just arrived at Bannes, when, towards eleven
o'clock, General Foch's order arrived : to stop the retreat; to advance
towards the north in order to bar the way to the German offensive
and force the enemy to retreat" (Journal of Colonel D ♦ ♦ .)

B

1 8 Foch at the Marne

the Aube, 1 and he followed that movement without
occupying the marshes, when suddenly, towards ten
o'clock, he received the general order dictated during
the night by Joffre* The part of the order which
affected Foch ran in these terms : " The Ninth Army
will cover the right of the Fifth Army, holding the
debouches to the south of the marshes of Saint-Gopd

1 In fact, all the generalissimo's dispositions had been arranged with
a view to taking the offensive on this line, towards which he had
ordered his reinforcements and his food convoys to converge* During
the night of September 4, after three long telephonic conversations
with Gallieni (L* Armée de Paris et la bataille de VOurcq, by General
Bonnal), who, informed as to von Klùck's change of front towards
the Ourcq, pressed the generalissimo, rightly or wrongly, to seize the
opportunity and advance the date of the offensive, Joffre improvised
the general order, of which we give above the extract concerning the
Ninth Army, and whose general terms were as follows :

" i* It is expedient to profit from the hazardous situation of the
First German Army and to concentrate against it the efforts of the
extreme left of the Allied Army* All necessary dispositions have been
arranged to take place during September 5 ; the attack to be launched
on the 6th*

"2* The preparations to be completed by the evening of
September 5 are :

" (a) All available forces of the Sixth Army to the north-east of
Meaux must be ready to cross the Ourcq between Lizy-sur-Ourcq
and May-en-Multien, in the general direction of Chateau-Thierry*
Available units of the xst cavalry corps which are near at hand will
be placed under the command of General Manoury for this operation*

" (6) The British Army, established on the Changis-Coulommiers
front, facing east, will be ready to attack in the direction of Montmirail.

" (c) The Fifth Army, closing up gradually on its left, will establish
itself on the front Courtacon-Esternay-Sézanne, ready to attack ; the
2nd cavalry corps will assure the liaison between the British Army
and the Fifth Army*

" (d) The Ninth Army will cover the right of the Fifth Army, holding

■

The Preliminaries of the Battle 1 9

and posting a part of its forces on the plateau to the
north of Sezanne/'

But from 645 in the morning, in view of an imminent
renewal of the offensive, the EXth and Xlth corps had
been ordered not to proceed further south than the
line Montépreux - Connantre - Œuvy - Gourgançon-
Courcelles, and to leave rear-guards to the south of the
marshes* At 10*30, having received Jofire's general
order, Foch commanded his advanced units to recross

the debouches to the south of the marshes of Saint-Gond and posting
a part of its forces on the plateau to the north of Sezanne.

"3. The offensive will be made by the various armies on the
morning of September 6. J* Joffkb."

It was this " order of the day," brought only in the morning to the
knowledge of the commanding-officers, which determined, on the
afternoon of the 5th, the sudden arrest of the retreat. It concerned
the Allied Armies of the extreme left exclusively. The Fourth and
Third Armies of the right wing received their special instructions at
the close of the day :

44 Fourth Army. To-morrow, September 6, our armies of the left
will attack the front and the flank of the First and Second German
Armies. The Fourth Army, stopping its southward movement, will
advance towards the enemy, linking its movement to that of the
Eighth Army, which, debouching to the north of Revigny, will assume
the offensive in advancing towards the Ourcq.

" Third Army. The Third Army, screening itself towards the
north-east, will debouch towards the west, to attack the left flank of
the enemy forces which are operating to the west of the Argonne. It
will join its action to that of the Fourth Army, which has orders to
engage the enemy."

And so every contingency was foreseen by the generalissimo. " The
orders of General Joffre," writes General Bonnal, a reliable judge,
44 sent out on the evening of the 5th and the morning of September 6,
constitute the plan of the battle of the Marne. In the same way
Napoleon dictated, on December 1, 1805, the plan of the battle fought
on the following day/'

2o Foch at thé Marne

the marshes and to establish themselves strongly on
Congy, Toulon-la-Montagne» etc* Dispatch riders were
sent out in all directions to carry this order to the various
commanders* Immediately the retreat was stopped:
our troops at once offered resistance. And it was time*
The enemy, struck by that species of paralysis
which had so often arrested him in front of imaginary
obstacles» had happily pushed only his advance guards
towards the marshes» He had not even occupied
Toulon-la-Montagne, a natural salient» the steep
wooded slopes of which form a glacis commanding
the whole plain to the north» but which is itself over-
looked by the semicircle of hills surrounding it from
Champaubert to Mont-Aimé» Suddenly, between
3 and 4 o'clock» French guns thundered on Saint-Prix»
then about 6 o'clock on Coizard and farther off towards
Morains-le-Petit» From Villevenard one could hear
the fusillade distinctly and the rat-tat of the machine-
guns below Joches» beside the pond of Chénevry» 1 The
enemy replied by bombarding Bannes and the two
Broussys» where the main body of the Morocco division
and the 17th division were hurrying to rejoin their rear-
guards» The enemy also fired incendiary bombs into
Clamanges» Pierre-Morains and Coligny» a district
where we had only artillery on guard» These sudden
and irregular attacks were but a feeble remedy for the
slowness of the enemy's concentration» The 2nd
battalion of the 135th regiment» 2 supported by three

1 Journal of M. Roland»

1 " In foreign armies an infantry regiment is generally made up of
three battalions acting together under a colonel's command» 99 (Buchan»
op. eft» vol» L p, 352*)

The Preliminaries of the Battle 2 1

batteries of the 17th division, was able, almost without
resistance, to occupy Toulon-la-Montagne and the
Razet wood ; on the Aulnay-aux-Planches road the
Noblet battalion of the same regiment threw itself
hotly upon the heels of the German patrol which had
escaped away towards Aulnizeux, threw it into con-
fusion and took possession of Vert-la-Gravelle ; the
approaches to the north and east of the village were
put in a state of defence by our troops, and the staff of
the 17th division took up its quarters there for the
night* 1

The operations succeeded brilliantly on this side.
In fact, at one point Captain Sanceret, with the 12th
company of the 3rd battalion, took a German battery
established under the walls of the castle of Vert, at the
point of the bayonet. But in the central part of the
marshes, Blondlat's brigade of the Morocco division,
which had been ordered to push one of its regiments as
far as Congy by way of Aulnizeux and Joches, and also
to direct the colonial infantry regiment to Courjeonnet
by Bannes and Coizard, came into contact with over-
whelming enemy forces and was obliged to fall back
during the night on Br oussy-le- Grand* The regiments
of Cros and Fellert had already arrived there with
divisional artillery, though some " arabas " (light
waggons from Morocco) had stuck in the mud while
crossing the marshes. The losses suffered in the course
of this hazardous raid, especially by Sautel's colonial
battalion at Quatre-Routes, where it charged with the

1 E, M. at Vert-la-Gravelle. " Lay down at midnight and rose at
3.30 in the morning/' (General Moussy's Journal of the Campaign.)

22 Foch at the Marne

solemn fury habitual to these troops crying, " To the
death I To the death I " * did not affect the moral of
the brigade, which was to resume the offensive at
3 o'clock the next morning**

Things went better for us in the beginning at Saint-
Prix, where an advance unit of the 42nd division was
in action* General Grossetti's order, issued about
2 o'clock in the afternoon* commanded the 84th
brigade (Colonel Trouchaud) to advance towards
Villeneuve* Soizy and the Branle wood* The 83rd
brigade* under General Krien, was to advance in the
region of Mondement, Oyes and the Botrait wood*
The artillery (five brigades) was to take up positions as
follows: The 61st (three brigades under Colonel
Boichut) in the neighbourhood of Broussy* Monde-
ment and Reuves ; the 46th (two brigades under
Colonel Coffee) between Montgivroux and Monde-
ment* Shortly afterwards the 2nd brigade of the 61st
(Major Ménétrier) moved off towards Oyes* to search
the Usages wood and cover the advance of the
French towards Saint-Prix* At that town* the marshes
are confined between high wooded hills : the road
from Baye* which follows a gentle slope flanked by
tall poplars* crosses the Petit-Morin and rises by a
series of loops towards the height called Le Signal
du Poirier* between the wood of Grândes-Garennes
and that of Botrait* Nothing could have been more
simple that morning than to block this road* And
nothing could be more difficult than to retake it should

1 From the account of Mme» Bression, wife of the farmer at Joches»
1 Asker, op* tiU

The Preliminaries of the Battle 2 3

the force holding it be strongly fortified. But the enemy
had done nothing save to send a few scouts and snipers
into the neighbouring thickets : they were dislodged
without much trouble» By 4 o'clock we were in com-
mand of the bridge of Saint-Prix and of the church,
which stands a little distance away from the village*
The enemy's advance guard fell back to the other side
of the Petit-Morin, on the mill at Toury, where the
men hastily dug themselves in. 1 It was a slight ad-
vantage and of short duration, the enemy soon return-
ing in force» The counter-attack of the chasseurs
had nevertheless freed the approaches of Monde-
ment where General Grossetti had just installed
himself with his staff» We held all the neighbouring
heights. l'Homme-Blanc, the Signal du Poirier, Mbnt-
givroux, the wood of Saint-Gond, etc» From
Villeneuve-lès-Charleville to Humbauville our troops
took up their position on the whole front» to the west,
south and east of the marshes» The cavalry (7th
hussars, zoth mounted chasseurs, 1st, 3rd and 24th
dragoons, and 25th cyclist chasseurs) linked up the
different corps; the artillery was posted at the de-
bouches of the roads and on the crests of the hills,
Toulon-la-Montagne, Allemant, Mont-Août» » » »

The enemy was astonished by such audacity» He
could not credit this right-about-turn of the French
troops; that they should dare to dispute with him
" the proud privilege of the initiative," to adopt the
style of Bernhardi. The battle in which he suddenly

1 According to Adrien Diart, farmer, who was present and witnessed
the affair» Hie mill of Toury is now used simply as a farm»

24 Foch at the Marne

found himself engaged appeared to him as a skirmish
of the rear-guard, only a little more violent than former
skirmishes had been. Eventually, except on our left,
where in consequence of Franchet d'Espérey's re-
treat, von Bulow dangerously outflanked us, we slept,
we and the enemy, practically on these respective posi-
tions* To the north-east of the marshes, Dubois, whose
tactical genius was a powerful factor in the final success,
had even encroached to a considerable extent on the
German line ; but in consequence of the check to
Blondlat's advance on Congy, the Eon brigade, which
had taken Toulon-la-Montagne and Vert-la-Gravelle,
found itself uncovered till 3 o'clock in the morning*

The night was clear, a night of the early September
days — starlit and mysterious* Towards 11 o'clock the
cannonade died down, the marshes were wrapped in
silence*

But there was an angry glow in the western sky :
Vert-la-Gravelle, Pierre-Morains and Coligny were
on fire*

The 6th of September 2 5

11

THE 6TH OF SEPTEMBER

When dawn came on Sunday, September 6, everything
was still quiet» One would not have thought that war was
vexing this melancholy landscape ♦ Of the immense body
of troops which covered the borders of the marshes,
nothing was apparent to the naked eye» The cry of the
wild duck was heard among the rushes» which were
already beginning to show the golden tints of autumn»
The sense of peace was everywhere so great that the
inhabitants» hidden in the burial vaults of the hill»
thinking all danger at an end» came out of their shelters
and descended towards the village» It was 6 o'clock»
44 While waiting for our early coffee," writes M»
Roland» " we climbed up a little eminence to the west
of the school to have a look out over the plain» Not a
soldier ; not a sound»" But it was a misleading calm ;
suddenly bullets whistled past their ears ; our cave-
dwellers had only time to turn round and regain their
vaults»

Nothing was yet afoot, however, except a fusillade
from the outposts» But at 8 o'clock 1 a tremendous
report was heard ; flashes of fire streaked the heights ;
the guns thundered forth» Our troops had just received

1 ** At eight o'clock guns began to thunder quite near us from Congy
and Courjeonnet* The real battle had begun." (M, Roland's Journal»)

2 6 Foch at the Marne

Joffre's famous order — that immortal proclamation,
curt and bald as any ancient inscription, which shines
on the escutcheon of the Victory of the Marne and
which every Frenchman knows by heart : —

44 At the moment when we are about to engage in a
battle on which the welfare of the country depends, I
must remind you all that the time for looking behind
is past. All efforts must be directed to attacking and
driving back the enemy* An army which can no longer
advance must, cost what it may, hold the conquered
ground, and perish where it stands rather than give
way* In present circumstances, no wavering can be
tolerated/' x

On the reading of this 4t order of the day/' a thrill
passed through the whole immense front which ex-
tended from Alsace to the entrenched camp at Paris*
Now at last the clouds which had enveloped the

1 It is convenient at this point to compare, as has already been done
elsewhere, the " order of the day " found at Vitry-le-Francois and
signed by General Tulff von Tscheppe. No document forms a
stronger indictment against the German mentality, or points more
directly to the abyss which separates the two civilisations»

" The end followed in our long and laborious marches has been
attained. The main French forces have been forced to accept the
battle, after having been consistently thrown back. The great decision
is undoubtedly near at hand. To-morrow, then, the whole forces of
the German Army, as well as those of our Army Corps, will be
engaged over the whole line from Paris to Verdun. To save the well'
being and the honour of Germany, I expect of every officer and every
soldier, notwithstanding the severe and heroic struggle of these last
days, that he will do his very utmost, and that to his last breath. Every-
thing depends on the result of to-morrow/'

It seems that well-being goes before honour in the minds of the
soldiers of Kultur.

The 6th of September 2 7

dilatory strategy of the generalissimo were rolled away ;
the troops could appreciate the deep-laid plans of their
leader ; they knew that should victory smile upon them
this time, the bugle-call of the retreat would no longer
embitter their triumph ; they knew also how formid-
able was the stake of the attacking troops»

44 This is the 4 decisive shock/ • ♦ • . From the
highest officer to the humblest private there is not
one of us who does not feel certain of that/' * This
accurate appreciation of the situation, grasped at the
same moment and through all branches of the service
by officers and men alike, made them all as of one
mind, 2 and while they prepared themselves for the
necessary sacrifices, they were filled with the sense of
the nobility of their cause, the reason for their sacrifice ;
they were uplifted by a divine illumination, as at
Marathon, as at Bouvines, as at Valmy* The Battle of
the Marne, full of the unknown, of mystery, for the
Germans, was for us the victory of transparent
clearness»

At the moment when Joffre's " order of the day "
reached our troops, the respective positions of the
armies of Foch, von Bulow and von Hausen were
practically as follows : The Xth active corps of von
Bulow's army was facing towards Baye-Congy ; part
of the Guard faced in the direction of Moraîns-Écury-
le-Repos, the main body being in reserve at Vertus

1 Asker, op. cit. ** This is the great battle on which the fate of the
country depends/' (General Moussy's Journal of the Campaign,)

' " Every one of us, from the chief to the humblest private, had in
his heart the implacable will to conquer/' (Letter from General
B ♦ ♦ ♦, colonel of artillery at the Marne»)

2 S Foch at the Marne

and the parks of artillery at Ëtrechy ; the Xllth active
Saxon corps of von Hausen faced towards Normée-
Vassimont ; the Xllth reserve Saxon corps 1 faced
towards Somme sous. Of Foch's army, the 42nd
division occupied the heights of Saint-Prix, Soisy, the
wood of Saint-Gond, the steep slopes of Mondement,
and the plateau of Villeneuve-lès-Charleville ; the
IXth corps (Morocco division and 17th division) held
all the southern border of the marshes, from Oyes to
Morains-le-Petit, with advance guards at Aulnay-aux-
Planches, Aulniseux, Vert-la-Gravelle, Coizard and
Toulon-la-Montagne ; the Xlth corps formed the
liaison with Morains-le-Petit, the eastern extremity of
the marshes, and extended by Écury-le-Repos, Normée
and Lenharrée as far as Sommesous, with advance
guards towards Coligny and Pierre-Morains ; the 9th
cavalry division was at Mailly with an advance guard
towards Vatry, and the reserve divisions of the IXth
and Xlth corps (52nd and 60th divisions) were between
Broussy and Mont-Août, Sommesous and Œuvy
respectively*

A short examination of these positions shows plainly
how the Ninth Army, numerically inferior to the
opposing forces, was obliged in the meantime to
content itself with a rôle of " active defence," to use
a military expression* It dealt in barrage more than
any of the other armies, and it did this most of all from
its centre, that is to say, from the most sensitive part of

1 According to M. Babin, the 32nd division of the Xllth Saxon
corps operated against Foch's army, while the 25th division, by way of
Vatry and Cqole, attacked Langle de Car/s army in the direction of
Sompuis.

The 6th of September 2 9

its line ; for were Foch's front broken, the whole dis-
position of the French army would crack. That would
be particularly the case in regard to the offensive which
the Fifth Army on our left was commanded to under-
take, which was to be pushed in the general direction
of Montmirail in conjunction with Franchet d'Espérey»
The same would apply to the Fourth Army on our
right under Langle de Cary, which, victorious on the
Meuse on August 27, was eager to resume its forward
march and pushed on in the direction of Vitry-le-
François* But between Humbauville, on which the
left of the Fourth Army rested, and Sommesous, the
base of the right wing of the Kth corps, there was a
wide gap, a hiatus fifteen kilometres in extent, and
General de l'Espée had been given the difficult task of
filling up this gap with his cavalry» By extraordinary
luck, a hiatus in the German front corresponded
exactly with this gap in ours ; the Germans did not
perceive until too late that we had nothing there but
a thin screen of troops»

Holding Esternay and Charleville, von Bûlow was
thus in command of the western extremity of the
plateau of Sezanne and was bound to attempt the
complete occupation of this plateau» the abrupt borders
of which commanded the whole valley of the Aube — an
immense stretch of country — as far as Troyes, whose
towers are visible against the horizon on a clear
day» Pressure would therefore be exerted against us
towards Villeneuve-lès-Charleville and Soisy, where
the united efforts of the celebrated 42nd division from
Verdun and a part of Franchet dTSspérey's army would

3o Foch at the Marne

certainly not be too great to sustain the shock* In the
east, the Guards by Morains-le-Petit and the Saxon
troops over the flats of Champagne-Pouilleuse tried
to advance as far as Fère and Sommesous* But the
marshes lay between, that great natural greenish trench,
the southern boundaries of which we held strongly,
supported also from the neighbouring heights» But
should the double manœuvre of von Bulow and von
Hausen succeed in the south, we would be blockaded,
held firm in that muddy trap which would thus see the
disaster of the troops of Marie-Louise repeated* That
would probably have been the soundest plan for the
enemy to follow ; 1 it was simply the old manœuvre of
envelopment so dear to the strategists beyond the
Rhine* But in order to ensure the success of this plan
it would have been necessary for the enemy to abandon
the marshes and Mondement, to deceive our troops in
front of them by a ruse* and to carry out simultaneously
at the rear of our left and the flank of our right the
attack of the two armies which would afterwards have
been reunited at Sezanne or at Pleurs*

The enemy thought differently* Hypnotised by
Mondement and the fire which we directed from the
neighbouring heights on his troops* he wished to carry

1 It appears, however, that the enemy did perceive this possibility,
but too late» His manœuvre of September 8 (a massed attack simul-
taneously launched against both our wings) corresponds closely to the
plan indicated* From that time, except on the afternoon of the 7th,
he attacked our left wing alone. He could not bring himself to give
up Mondement on the 8th or the 9th and lost precious time, which
might have been better spent in forcing us further south on Sezanne
by Bout-de-la-Ville and Lachy.

The 6th of September 3 1

the castle by a sudden attack, the castle which is cer-
tainly the strategic key of the marshes, but of the
marshes alone» These tactics compelled him also to
carry the south-western boundary of the marshes» He
could have done it on the morning of the 5th by forced
marches* especially as we were falling bade on Corroy»
It became more difficult from the moment when we
began to offer resistance»

The marshes of Saint-Gond, which stretch from east
to west, do not, it is true, cover an extent of fifteen
leagues» as Bassompierre, the great romancer of the
seventeenth century, claimed ; they are eighteen kilo-
metres long by four or five broad» 1 They are inter-
sected by a number of roads of which some can only
be termed country tracks» The best of the roads, the
only ones which are well built, metalled and capable
of carrying heavy artillery, cross the marshes at their
extremities, Saint-Prix, Morains-le-Petit, and in the
centre, from Joches to Broussy ♦* Though he did not

1 Abbé Voillereau gives an account of them in a letter he was good
enough to write to me: " The marshes cover an area of 5000 hectares
(equivalent to 10,000 English acres)» They embrace fourteen com-
munes : Morains, Aulnay, Coligny, Aulnizeux, Vert-la-Gravelle,
Couard, Courjeonnet, Villevenard, Talus, Oyes, Reuves, Broussy-le-
Petit, Broussy-le-Grand and Bannes. The President of the Syndicate
of the Marshes of Saint-Gond for the irrigation, care and draining of
the marshes is M. Renou of Bannes. At present, with the exception
of small portions belonging to the various communes, the proprietors
of the marshes are Mme. de Saint-Genis of the Castle of Aulnay,
M. Renou-Triquenot of Bannes and M. Objcois of Amiens/'

a As yet, however, the enemy did not advance further towards
Broussy on the 8th than la Verrerie, an old industrial establishment,
now transformed into a farm. On Sunday we had had machine-guns
at the end of the avenue of pine trees. " It was here/' said Mme*

32 Foch at the Marne

afterwards disdain to use the other roads, the enemy
sought first to assure himself the possession of these three
essential highroads. But the greater part of his heavy
artillery was left behind in the natural hollows in the
heights of Loizy-en-Brie, Courjeonnet, the heights of
Congy, the slope of Chenaille and the wood of Andecy* 1

Lecourt, the farmer's wife, " that Lieutenant Bloqucl of the 3rd
Zouaves, who was wounded in the arm, and whose men had been sent
to the military cemetery of Coizard, was put to death by a bayonet
thrust in the chest ; his body was robbed and his money taken away*
The Germans had placed a half-battery in the avenue and an ambu-
lance at la Verrerie itself* And a proof that they burn their dead or
send them away is, that when I re-entered -la Verrerie after our own
troops, there were among the ruins several hundred pairs of worn
boots, an incredible quantity of clothes, and heaps of cartridges as
high as this table (sic). These things had belonged to the 16th and
53rd German infantry/' Perhaps we may state here that the case of
Lieutenant Bloquel was far from being unique* In the> neighbourhood
of Ëcury-le-Repos, " Second-Lieutenant Beneteau, of the 337th, had
been .wounded on September 8 ; the barbarians killed him brutally/ 9
On the heights which command the church of Saint-Prix to the south
" about 200 bodies were found, of which the heads had been battered
in with blows from rifle butts*" This last fact is confirmed in part by
the Commission of Enquiry of May 6, 1915, where it is said that
Privates Maillet and Sagneau of the and Zouaves " had seen, while
advancing to the attack on Saint-Prix, the bodies of about twenty-five
Algerian tirailleurs, who had had their skulls knocked in with their
own rifles, the butts of which were covered with blood*" Jagneau
added that " the lieutenant who commanded the section had been
robbed of his arms, his papers, and even of his wedding ring."

1 Even at the Signal du Poirier, when he had captured it, he had
nothing but batteries of light artillery* " Some months after the
battle," says M* Gervais-Courtellemont, " one could still see the deep
infantry trenches, and the ruts and hoof marks of a half-battery of
77 mm* guns ; then, alongside, by the furrows of the artillery waggons,
a huge hole, hollowed out by the explosion of an important munition
dump* « • « In the big clearing, another half-battery, etc*" {Les
Champs de bataille de la Marne*)

The 6th of September 33

At Morains-le-Petit it was the Guard which attacked
in reply to our offensive ; on the Somme it was Saxon
troops ; at Mondement it was, time-about or simul-
taneously, Hanoverians, Pomeranians or Branden-
burgers, and no part of the struggle partook of a more
obstinate character»

Even though the 42nd division was obliged to fall
back behind the Petit-Morin and the bridge of Saint-
Prix, in order to face the violent flank attacks which the
enemy was directing against it towards Charleville, it
must be remembered that we still held Grandes-
Garennes, l'Homme Blanc, Soizy and the wood of
Saint-Gond, which covered Mondement to the north
and west : 1 the enemy had not succeeded in winning
his way in, except in the Botrait wood, whence he tried
to advance towards the farm of Mondement* Oyes,
Reuves, Broussy - le - Petit, Broussy - le - Grand and
Bannes were still in French hands, held by the DCth
corps, which even pushed forward in company with

x 1 On the morning of September 6, the situation of the 42nd divi-
sion was precisely as follows : The 162nd regiment under Major
Moisson, partly in the wood of Grandes-Garennes beyond Soizy and
partly mounted in the Soizy-Baye road, dominated the valley of the
Petit-Morin» The 151st regiment under Colonel Deville had two of
its battalions to the north of la Villeneuve ; its third battalion formed a
reserve, connecting the left of the regiment with the Xth corps. The
94th regiment, Colonel Margot, and two battalions of chasseurs
(unmounted, the 8th under Major Clavel, the 19th under Major
Ducornet) were posted in the rear towards Chapton, ready to support
or to follow the attacking regiments, should they advance. The 10th
regiment of mounted chasseurs (Colonel Laurent) was at Allemant ;
the five brigades of artillery were to the north and west of la Villeneuve»
c

34 Foch at the Marne

Moussy * and the 17th division* But Mondement
Castle, a vast quadrilateral building, flanked by pepper-
box towers which look out on one side to the marshes,
was directly exposed to the fire of the guns established
at Courjeonnet, Chenaille and Congy*

The castle, although poor in ornamentation, presents
a striking appearance by reason of its massive nature,
especially from the Broyés road, which commands a
view of the chief entrance, closed by an iron gate, the
pillars of which bear two langued lions*

Many times restored, it belonged in 1541 to a family
called Chasserat, from whom it passed by marriage to
a family of Geps ; then to Lef èvre de Caumartin,
then to Captain Lestrange, a Provençal captain of
dragoons, who came to grief through financial trans-
actions with a contractor of that district, Honoré
Bérard, who belonged originally to Cormontreuil near
Rheims, and to whom Lestrange found himself obliged
to part with the castle. Along with the buildings,
Bérard acquired the titles and seignorial rights, with
which he was even more pleased than with his astute-
ness during the whole transaction. He came to grief
under the Revolution* He was denounced by Oudet,
the national agent of the district, as a being " absolutely
immoral/* dealing in ** unpatriotic, suspicious, avari-
cious and litigious practices/* who " allowed his food-
stuffs and provisions to become unfit for human
food/' who tried " to starve the people/' who " let his

1 Moussy, who was then only a brigadier, was promised, from
September 2, the provisional command of this division, whose
honorary chief was General Dumas, afterwards succeeded by Guigna-
baudet»

The 6th of September 3 5

house, Vaugirard, in the rue Bonnet Rouge, to Cler-
mont-Tonerre, the president of the infamous club of
the monarchical party which held its meetings there/'
Bérard was arrested on October 23, 1794, at Sezanne,
and his castle and offices had seals affixed to them* A
subsequent inquiry revealed a few unthrashed sheaves
of corn, an unbroached cask of wine, some diseased
potatoes, five bushels of barley, eleven dozen bushels
of hemp-seed of which a few seeds lay scattered on the
floor, and — a more serious matter! — two packets of gun-
powder, half a pound of bullets, and a sportsman's
gun, three feet four inches in length, the butt covered
with velvet, the barrel gilded» 1

But it seems not to have been thought necessary, at
that candid period, to put the castle in a state of 4efence
or to send its proprietor to the scaffold» From that
time, Mondement does not figure again in the chronicle;
it fell asleep till the present war broke out» The castle
did not greatly deteriorate in the interval ; neither did
it make too many concessions to modern ideas of com-
fort, even although it had passed into the hands of a
stockbroker from Paris, M» Arthur Jacob» He died in
the summer of 1914, but his widow was still living
there on September 5, with one of his sons, a nurse,
and a considerable domestic staff»

All the domestics with the exception of the nurse
left the castle on the first rumour of invasion» M»
Jacob, junior, in spite of the serious condition of his
health, courageously determined to stay at Monde-
ment, where he took the place of his brother as Mayor

1 Abbé Millard, Histoire de Sezanne.

V

36

Foch at the Marne

of the Commune, his brother having been called up*
M* Jacob's fine example of civilian courage was to
cost him dear* He was joined by an unexpected guest*
Abbé Robin, the curé of Reuves, during the night of
September 5* French troops had been quartered at
Reuves on the 4th* but they had only passed through*
They returned at three o'clock on the afternoon of the
5th ; the order to hold the debouches south of the
marshes had just come* and a half-battery of artillery
took up its position behind the village and almost at
once entered into action* The German artillery replied :
the inhabitants went down into their cellars* But
44 towards two o'clock in the morning/' other French
troops* who had " come from Villevenard* 1 marched
through Reuves* raising an alarm as they passed/' All
that remained of the population dispersed ; Abbé
Robin* expecting to find a safe refuge at Mondement,
set off there in the middle of the night* The castle was
already occupied by our troops ; he had to treat with
them and was allowed to sleep in the court till morning*
when* through the intervention of Mme* Jacob* he was
allowed access to the living-rooms*

The arrival of this new guest was a great comfort
to Mme* Jacob ; she welcomed him as a messenger
from Heaven ; she wished to hear mass* and the Abbé
celebrated in the neighbouring church* It was as yet
hardly daylight ; wisps of cloud still trailed over the
little hills* A hollow sound was heard through the mist*
and shrapnel burst over the church* The Abbé and

1 This must be interpreted rather as " from the direction of Ville-
venard/' for our troops did not enter the village till September 10.

The 6th of September 3 7

his parishioner hurried back to the castle» The court
and the common rooms, which had so lately appeared
as vast, crowded barracks, were emptied in the
twinkling of an eye : the troops had disappeared
into the woods. The cannonade did not lessen by one
shell, but the German projectiles passed above the
castle to search the coverts of the Châtaigneraie, where
our colonial artillery had installed its guns on the out-
skirts of the wood* The French fire lessened for a time ;
it regained its intensity towards n o'clock, when the
three batteries of the Geiger group had taken up their
positions to the south-east of Reuves, Reassured by
the inactivity of the German artillery at Mondement,
Abbé Robin and his little band came out of the cellars
in which they had taken refuge ♦ The rest of the day
passed very quietly, " In the evening/' writes the
Abbé, " we lay down on the top of our beds, fully
dressed. The soldiers had come back to the court of
the castle ; they left it again at daybreak/'

Before setting himself to attack the castle, the enemy,
being unable to extinguish the fire of our artillery, had
no doubt wished to clear his approaches. In order to
seise Mondement it was necessary to begin by dis-
lodging the French from Reuves, Oyes and some
wooded hills which the Morocco division still occupied
towards Saint-Prix, (The Morocco division had re-
placed the 42nd division on this part of our line,) The
German attack might be launched from three different
directions : from the southern border of the marshes,
when it would confront the French line ; from the
converging roads of Soizy-aux-Bois and la Villeneuve,

*

38 Foch at the Marne

when it would attack the French in the rear ; or from
the loops of the Saint-Prix road, winding about among
the woods of Grandes-Garennes and Botrait, when it
would take the French in the flank»

This last menace seemed the most imminent* The
enemy had already occupied Montalard since nine
o'clock, and was pushing forward towards the Signal du
Poirier and the wood of Saint-Gond. On the evening of
September 6, however, we still held all, or nearly all,
our positions of the day before, on the left and in the
centre of our line»

On our left, our hold on la Villeneuve had certainly
been loosened for a short time* Colonel (now General)
Deville had set out from la Villeneuve at three in the
morning with two of his battalions in the direction of
Pommerose, to the south of the Petit-Morin, which
had been assigned to him as his eventual objective* His
3rd battalion, under Major Morphous, remained
between la Villeneuve and Charleville, forming a link
with the Xth corps : the 94th regiment and the chas-
seurs held themselves in reserve towards Ghapton,
ready to follow the movement, when, towards six
o'clock in the morning, the colonel was forewarned by
a cavalry officer reconnoitring in the north, that enemy
artillery was advancing rapidly by Corfélix and the
Culots* This force consisted in reality of armoured
cars* The three groups of divisional artillery which
supported the movement of Deville 's column immedi-
ately opened fire in their direction* But the tornado
swept past, enfilading a battalion on the right of the
151st regiment and causing a general oscillation over

The 6th of September 3 9

our front, which left Colonel Boichut and his artillery
brigades uncovered*

The 151st regiment reoccupied Villeneuve towards
9*30, but without being able to debouch from the
cemetery, which the enemy covered with his machine-
guns* The church presently caught fire ; at six o'clock
in the evening, a discordant jangle, of which the vibra-
tions penetrated even to the cellars, where the popula-
tion had taken refuge, announced the fall of the bells*
This constituted, in this particular region of the battle
front* the enemy's one success* unable as he was to
debouch from Charleville* Boichut 's artillery, which
had succeeded in extricating itself, had established its
batteries behind la Villeneuve, to the north of le Bout-
de-la- Ville and towards the wood of Saint-Gond*
Colonel Coffee's two groups (Majors Desbuissons and
Desrousseaux) poured down a steady fire on the
"national road 51," along which reinforcements were
being pushed forward to the aid of the Hanoverians, who
were hotly engaged with the 162nd regiment before
Soûy* In the Branle wood, the 94th and the 16th bat-
talions of chasseurs (Major Cheneble) did not lose even a
gun-carriage* Grossetti, who had held the Soizy road,
the tactical centre of the battle, during the greater part of
the day, used the farm at Chapton as his headquarters*

The same oscillations, the same final rearrange-
ment took place in our centre* We could certainly not
have taken Congy* Sautel's battalion had found
Coizard and Joches empty 1 on the evening of the 5th,

1 " Empty " is perhaps not quite the right word* " On the night of
the 5th/* writes Captain de Sales de Sabales, one of the last surviving

40 Foch at the Marne

and had commenced to march obliquely on Congy,
when it was caught by the searchlights stationed in the
vineyards of Cour jeonnet : * our men were blinded by
the glare and unable to reply to the fire of the enemy
who remained in the shadow, while offering him,
in this luminous field, the most obliging of targets*
The battalion fell back on Joches to await the dawn.
The 3rd Zouaves under Colonel Lévêque had just
entered Joches with the Schneider and Martin bri-
gades of artillery, which had ventured, under cover of
night, along the straight high-road of Anglure* At the
sight of these protecting forces, the inhabitants who

officers of the 1st battalion of the 1st Zouaves who fought at Saint-
Gond, " Sautel's battalion flung itself on the Death's Head Hussars
at Coizard, where they were quartered for the night. When we entered
the village at six o'clock in the morning, we found some of their horses
still there."

1 According to a local tradition, it was at Courjeonnet on September
6 that a general of the guard, Prince Hans von Wittenau, was severely
wounded» " He was at once removed/' says Abbé Néret, " at two
o'clock in the morning to the Auban-Moét Hospital at Épernay, where
Dr. Verron attended him for four days/' Now, at the beginning of the
invasion, September 5, Épernay had been ordered to pay a war levy
of 176,550 francs* On the gth, this whole sum was refunded " in con-
sideration," wrote General von Plettenberg, " of the care taken of the
German wounded, and in the hope that such care will be continued/'
Such an act of generosity on the part of the enemy gives the more
cause for astonishment that it is unique* Many conjectures and stories
have grown up round it : it has been alleged that Dr. Verron, who
attended the Prince von Wittenau, had fixed his fee at the sum of
176,550 francs» "All those who are acquainted with this emi-
nent surgeon," write the authors of La Guerre en Champagne, " know
that the dignity of his character, the high ideals he has always
cherished of his profession and his duty, protest against any such
allegation/'

The 6th of September 4 1

had stayed in the village thought themselves saved ;
they shouted and sang for joy* It was with some
difficulty that they were calmed down*

'"We are sacrificed in advance/' the soldiers told
them» " But the welfare of the country demands it*
If you see us advancing towards Congy, you will know
that all is well* If not ♦ ♦ ♦"

They completed the sentence by a vague gesture,
an invitation to these poor people not to build too much
on illusory hopes* 1

A new day had dawned* The artillery had suc-
ceeded in establishing a battery on Hill 176, between
Joches and Courjeonnet* But the Congy road,
swept by bursts of enemy fire, presented no
shelter save the trees planted along its border* In
addition to all this* Toulon-la-Montagne, on the right
flank of the French attack, had become untenable for
its garrison* From the surrounding hills, which en-
closed it on three sides like a horse-shoe, the enemy
shattered it with his heavy guns* The trees on the crest
of the Razet wood cracked and fell over, as if under
a cyclone* Our scouts signalled regarding suspected
footpaths through the Cubersault valley and the
meadows of Gravelle, where the Eon brigade had
failed to carry the castle in a night attack* The invest-
ment of the position continued* At nine o'clock the
enemy crept away into the wood ; at 9*30, cut to pieces
by his machine-guns, the 2nd battalion of the 135th
rushed down the slopes of Toulon-la-Montagne,
drawing into its helter-skelter retreat the Noblet

1 From the account of Mme* Bression, the farmer's wife at Joches*

I -s.

42 Foch at the Marne

battalion, which had occupied Ve r t-la- Grave He ♦ The
Blondlat brigade was left alone, between Courjeonnet
and Joches* And it was at that moment that Foch's
orders were most pressing* He not only commanded
that Toulon should be held at all costs, but he ordered
that Congy should be taken and that an advance should
be made in the west towards Baye, in liaison with the
42nd division* Was it not Foch who had written in
his Principes de Guerre that " to maintain positions
was to prepare implicitly for defeat, if nothing further
was attempted, if the offensive was not at once
assumed " i Dubois, with the DCth corps, at once
began the necessary preparations to realise the idea of
his chief* While the skirmishing troops of Colonels
Cros and Fellert pushed forward in the direction of
Baye, supported by two brigades of artillery in
batteries to the south of Reuves, Dubois pushed the
33rd brigade forward from Broussy-le-Grand to
Broussy-le-Petit ; he had the roads across the marshes
barred by the 52nd reserve division, and he charged
the 17th division with the task of recapturing Toulon
and Vert-la-Gravelle*

It was a heavy task, but not too heavy for the regi-
ment to which it was assigned* Launched forth from
Bannes at 1045 on a road uncompromisingly straight
and level, bordered by quaking meadows from which
the enemy poured forth a constant frontal and cross-
fire — how could the 77th regiment (under Colonel
Lestoquoi) succeed in crossing the marshes and enter-
ing Coizard i Shells rained down on them from every
side* One section, told off to make a reconnaissance at

The 6 th of September 43

Joches, was received by a hail of bullets and cut off
from its main force by a heavy artillery barrage* 1 From
the houses of Coi&rd the enemy shot at our troops
through loop-holes* There was an instant's hesitation,
a momentary recoil*

44 Colonel/' said one of the officers» " it is all up
with us/'

44 Not yet/' replied Colonel Les to quoi*

He brought his troops back to the little square in
front of the Mairie. The firing was just then parti-
cularly violent* The men hesitated again* But Major
de Beaufort, " mounted on his great charger, a riding-
switch in his hand/' inspired them with the ardour of
his own courage*

Forward I my lads ! Courage 1 " he cried to them*

Without stumbling 1 Without lowering your heads !
It is for France I Joan of Arc is with us ! " a

1 That section was commanded by a non-commissioned officer, now
Lieutenant Roy» " Roy, who was charged with making a reconnaissance
at Joches/' writes a contemporary, " was received with a volley of
point-blank rifle-shots in front, an artillery barrage in the rear. He
was able# nevertheless, to disengage his force, rallying with the help of
Sergeant-Major Bignon, who has since been promoted, a hundred
men of the 77th regiment, a few tirailleurs, and some zouaves. Cut
off from the rest of the regiment, he fell back and did everything in
his power to regain his place in the battalion ; without information
and without a map, he succeeded in rejoining his regiment at noon
on the following day, September 7, having covered nearly twenty
kilometres/'

1 " At Coôard Major de Beaufort, mounted on his great bay charger,
a riding-switch in his hand, encouraged his troops* Shells were falling
all round, bullets whistled from the houses where the Boche was in
hiding» ' Forward, my lads ! Courage ! ' cried the major» * Without
stumbling 1 With heads held high 1 '* But they were obliged to fall

44

44 Foch at the Marne

Carried forward by the warlike mysticism of that
voice, the 2nd battalion went right through to Coisard,
and by the Crayère — the ancient course of the Marne,
which offered them a momentary shelter — tried to reach
the steep slopes of Toulon-la-Montagne by climbing
up the mountain side/ The 3rd battalion, under Major
Lifnal, attempted a similar manœuvre towards the
south-western boundary of the woods* At seven o'clock
they were overpowered* The retreat by the marshes
was terrible ; x " the waste of rushes extended for a
distance of nearly three kilometres* It was impossible
to follow the road where troops would have been
sighted at once by the enemy, and in the rushes the
men sank in sometimes to the waist* The 58th battalion
of chasseurs, summoned hastily by Moussy to parry the
effects of this retreat, found great difficulty in deploying
under the bursting shells, so frequent and in such

back* The retreat was terrible across the marshes» where the men
sank in sometimes up to their waists» under a withering fire. But
Beaufort did not cease to encourage his soldiers* They entrenched
themselves that evening (September 6) on Mont- Août» near the big
quarries» which looked ghostly in the night. In the marshes, a village
was inflames ; one could distinguish the shadows which moved round
it ; the Boches were dancing sin infernal saraband. The night was
fine, but hot» As there was no water obtainable in that region, the men
suffered» and were to suffer still more, from thirst as well as from
hunger/' (Letter from a private soldier, E. C.)

1 Major Limal was wounded in this operation. Captain Nanteuil,
who was also wounded, heroically refused to allow himself to be
removed, lest he should in that way hinder the retreat. He was brought
in shortly afterwards by the 68th infantry regiment (Colonel Oenot),
which rescued at the same time some men of a section of the 12th com-
pany of the 3rd battalion (commanded by Adjutant Pasquier), who
had fallen into the hands of the enemy» See Appendix»

The 6th «of September 45

quantities that a veil of blackish smoke from Coi&rd
and Joches obscured the position/' l The " grey tunics
poured down the hills in dense masses at the heels of
our men, and penetrated right on to the marshes*
French shells now began to fall among them, but, hardly
broken, the ' rushing flood ' of the grey uniforms
re-formed ; the enemy was in Bannes ! "

But to debouch from it again — that was another
matter* The batteries of our 17th division (the Lavenir,
Bourdiaux and Lesquem groups) laid down* under the
orders of Colonel Besse, so exact a barrage* that in
spite of the shouts of the German officers, the Hurrahs I
and the Vorwûrts I the ranks of the Guard were broken*
the Germans hesitated* turned back* Four attempts
failed in this way* 2 The day was drawing to a close*
Though our reinforcements arrived, the situation re-
mained precarious till far on in the evening* * * *
But at Morains, Nacquart's battalion of the 32nd regi-
ment* in liaison with the 65th of the DCth corps, held
their positions firmly all through the day and night,
under an intense bombardment* At Aulnay-aux-
Planches, a company of the 77th regiment held on
grimly till the morning of the 7th, keeping a footing
for us on the northern border of the marshes* Pressed
back everywhere except from this border, the DCth
corps fell back to re-form on its old line, which was but
slightly bent* From Oyes and from Reuves, by the
Haut-des-Grès and Mont-Août, it ascended again to
the north towards the boundaries of Bannes, where

1 Henri Libermann, Ce qu'a vu un officier de chasseurs à pied (Plon-
Nourrit),
■ Op. du

+6

Foch at the Marne

3000 shells of every calibre had not succeeded in dis-
lodging the 33rd brigade, which had hastened to the
rescue and had entrenched itself on the outskirts of the
village at Champ-de-Bataille and at la Petite-Ferme,
facing the Coisard and Morains roads* 1 " Everything
is going well/' wrote Moussy at 9*30 in the evening* But
Moussy, who commanded this sector for the time being,
did not try to conceal that certain incidents of the day
had given him grave anxiety* If at the beginning some
confusion existed among the various units of the
liaison, the Xlth corps, on our right, did not waste
any time in putting things straight* 2 But the enemy
had no cause to disturb himself: Morains-le-Petit,
Normée, Lenharrée, Chapelaine, Vassimont, Haussi-
mont and Sommesous were burning ; Écury-le-Repos,
at the bend of the Somme and under the fire of two
artilleries, was no longer tenable after the middle of
the day* " On the 6th and 7th," writes an officer of

1 " Support of the 52nd reserve division (58th chasseurs battalion)*
« « « * We were back. in a little valley south of Bannes from 2*30 till
5*30, constantly deluged by projectiles* At 6.45 our direction was
Bannes-Broussy, towards the wood . * . from which the 33rd brigade
debouched to occupy Hill 154, Bannes, Champ-de-Bataille, Petite-
Ferme* ♦ * ♦" (General Moussy's Journal of the Campaign*)

* According to M. Gervais-Courtellemont, " our heavy artillery,
which arrived hurriedly by forced marches, had not been able to get
forward to the first line since the beginning of the battle : the 20th
artillery, for example, whose batteries covered seventy kilometres
without a halt, from Troyes to Connantray, in order to reach the
battle-field* Our infantry, in spite of its splendid spirit, was thus in
a difficult position at the beginning of the action/' (Les Champs de
bataille de la Marne.) But this is chiefly the case in regard to the IXth
corps, which had left the third and fourth groups of the 49th artillery
in Lorraine, an absence keenly felt in these first days*

The 6th of September 47

the 347th regiment/- " the enemy shelled us at his
pleasure ; and I think it was during these two days,
which seemed to me like centuries, that I felt most
down-hearted* One could see nothing, and every
moment Bang 1 Bang! Bang! to the right, to the left,
in front, behind* And the cries of the wounded and
the dying ; the shouts of the officers, trying to make
themselves heard above the uproar* What a Hell ! "

The same officer speaks feelingly of the vast warrens
among which he bivouacked* It was the district called
Champagne-Pouilleuse* Its agricultural poverty pro-
longs that of the marshes* The eye finds no resting
place in these great flats of pale and crumbling earth*
like a dust of dry bones* On the least barren parts
one sees patches of gorse, fields of barley* lucerne»
buckwheat ; a sorry culture* broken here and there by
plantations of little firs and stunted birch trees* Chalk
appears everywhere* and the pines* the least exacting of
trees* find only just enough sustenance to keep them in
life* and only attain to a diminutive and sickly growth*
One can walk for leagues without seeing a single farm*
There are hardly any cattle, a few sheep herded by an
old shepherd in a rough brownish smock* The melan-
choly of this district in the autumn must be extreme,
when the wind sweeps the rusty pine-needles off the
trees and strews them on the ground* when flights of
cranes* their necks outstretched, fly across the sky on
their way south* It is almost the melancholy of certain
parts of Brittany* such as the immense plain of Lan vaux,

1 Letter from Second-Lieutenant Firmin M ♦ . ♦ (Courrier de
Sézanne of September 10, 1915»)

4 8

Foch at the Marne

which is also almost uncultivated, and sparsely covered
with fir trees. But it is a drier melancholy, without the
constant mists, without running water. And, strangely
enough, the troops who were fighting here were troops
from Vannes (116th) and from Lorient (62nd). The
thousands of German and French graves, set all along
the road to Lenharrée, tell the traveller — to whom
they form a tragic escort on each side of the road — one
of the results of the battle. Lenharrée — the very name
suggests Brittany. A little later, after the surprise of
the 8th, other men from western regiments were to fall
here too, men of the 19th from Brest, of the 248th from
Guingamp, of the 247th from St. Malo, mixed with
men of the 225th from Cherbourg. The storm once
past, the ancient courage of the race reasserted itself»
44 It is necessary either to conquer these people, or
to kill them, Foch is reported to have said to
his Bretons, in speaking of the " grenadiers of old
Prussia/* " Very good," they replied simply. 1 It was
l'Espée's division in a short engagement of one of his
brigades (that of Séréville) with Saxon cavalry sup-
ported by infantry and artillery which first gave
evidence of the fierce fighting spirit of his squadrons. 8

1 " His " Bretons ! The possessive pronoua was used by Abbé
Nérct ; it is surprising in view of the fact that Foch is a native of the
Pyrenees, but it becomes more intelligible when one learns that Foch
married into a Breton family, and that his favourite residence is on the !

outskirts of Morlaix, in the Finistère district. |

* " On that day, l'Espée's division found itself at first near Soudé-
Sainte-Croix. During the day it had retreated towards Poivres-Sainte-
Suzanne, after having sent a regiment to make a reconnaissance at
Ccole, but, contrary to the report of M. Babin, there had been no
engagement in this region. The only action fought that day by the
division was fought by Séréville's brigade at Vatry, where it had been

The 6th of September 49

On the evening of the 6th, an appreciable recoil was
to be marked in one sector only of the French centre*
And it was a momentary recoil» Bannes (or rather the
nearest part of it, for the one street of the village is
nearly a kilometre in length) no longer belonged to us»
The enemy had got a footing on the southern border
of the marshes, but he only held one road-head, and
successive masses of his troops tried in vain to scale
the slopes of Mont- Août, a solitary articulation of the
front, like an island, which the 52nd reserve division
put in a state of defence, and which from its height of
221 metres dominated the vast marshy flats» Up till
the end of the battle, except for a few hours on the
afternoon of the 9th, Mont-Août remained in the hands
of the French» and the IXth corps found it the most
solid of bastions» Foch, in revising during the night
his order of the 7th, could speak without exaggeration
of " results obtained against an experienced and daring
enemy»" *

sent at 6*30 in the morning with a group of cyclists of the 25th dragoons*
During the morning there were only patrol engagements» After mid-
day, the German infantry gained the woods and commenced to attack,
but the Séréville brigade held firm until the enemy brought up his
artillery* Séréville had not a single gun to oppose it ; the cyclists fell
back under shrapnel fire on Sommesous* The enemy, whom the
dragoons continued to harry, did not go further than Vatry* The
brigade spent the night at Sommesous (evacuated by the Xlth corps),
which it found in an indescribable state of disorder ; the main part of
the division was at Mailly and at Poivres*" (Letter from General
X » . *)

1 " The major-general counts on all the troops of the Ninth Army

displaying the greatest activity and the most untiring energy, to extend

and maintain, in unquestionable manner, the results obtained against

an experienced and daring enemy/ 9 (Order of the Day, September 7*)

D

50 Foch at the Marne

ill

THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER

In spite of the salient which the enemy had thrust into
our lines, the straightness of our front was not seriously
affected» A glance at the map will show the reader that
on the morning of September 7, Mondement resembled
a great promontory assailed from three sides, but which
through Oyes, Reuves and Broussy preserved still a
sufficiently large front towards the marshes» On the
right, the enemy exerted pressure on it from Bannes ;
on the left» in spite of the heroism of the 162nd regi-
ment of the line» he had infiltrated in by the slopes of
l'Homme Blanc and Soizy-le-Bois, of which we now
only held the village ; in front he threatened from the
Botrait wood» from which, on the previous night» the
Ligny and Fralon battalions of Cros' regiment had not
arrived in time to dislodge him, after having captured
the farm of Montalard at the price of serious losses»
The enemy retook it at dawn, and with it, towards
8 o'clock» the Signal du Poirier» a vast bare chalky hill
riddled with deep trenches» horse-shoe excavations
and battery emplacements from which his fire belched
forth on Reuves and Oyes» Between Soizy and Charle-
ville» we ourselves occupied the salient of la Villeneuve-
lès-Charleville and were in direct liaison with the army
of Franchet d'Espérey, who, warned of the danger with

The 7 th of September 5 1

which the infiltration of von Bfilow's troops threatened
the 42nd division, had ordered the Xth corps during
the night to engage the enemy on the right and free
that part of the line»

But owing to a mistake, which represented this
corps as being in a critical position and on the point
of being forced to retire, Grossetti at the same time
caused the 151st regiment to evacuate la Villeneuve,
because he feared its left flank would be left uncovered ;
he also ordered Colonel Deville to fall back on the
wood to the south, while maintaining his liaison with
the 94th regiment* This retreat was carried out in
echelons, without noise or commotion, and at seven
o'clock the next morning there was no longer one French
soldier at la Villeneuve. At that moment a counter-
order from Grossetti arrived* Better informed as to
the situation of the Xth corps, he now ordered Colonel
Deville to suspend his retreating movement» But it
was too late $ all that could now be done was to attempt
the recapture of la Villeneuve at as little cost as pos-
sible and after a thorough artillery preparation by the
Ménétrier and Alvin brigades* The enemy had de-
stroyed the road from Chapton to la Villeneuve by his
shell-fire» Moreover, at two o'clock in the afternoon,
the Ménétrier brigade, which had been detached to go
to the support of the Morocco division, was obliged to
abandon this task in order to undertake another near
Mondement — to enter into action against enemy
batteries installed on the crest of the Poirier Hill,
whence they were causing great havoc among our
troops*

52 Foch at the Marne

It was not till the evening that the 151st regiment
was able to re-enter la Villeneuve which the enemy,
ignorant of our retreat, had continued to bombard»
A new brigade of artillery (Aubertin) had taken up its
position to the south-west of the wood of Bout-de-la-
Ville. While helping forward our advance, the fire it
directed on the approaches of Charleville supported
effectively an energetic movement of the Xth corps
decided on at midday, which won for the French,
towards six o'clock, the Rue-le-Comte and the Recoude,
the " Écarts " or outskirts of Charleville* 1 The forest
of Gault was not yet completely cleared of Germans*
At the point called Clos-le-Roi in particular, the 70th
regiment of Vitré suffered heavy losses* 2 But on the
whole the driving-out of the enemy was going on satis-
factorily* Of the thousand prisoners taken during the
day by Franchet d 'Espère y 's forces, more than half
were taken by the 41st regiment from Rennes, com-
manded by Colonel Passaga ; it collected in the forest
of Gault and on the boundaries of Chatelot and
Guébarré, 550 men, 6 machine-guns, and 2200 rifles* 8

Thanks to this diversion, the pressure became less
heavy on our left towards Soizy-aux-Bois 4 where the

1 The villages and hamlets of Champagne» which are dependants of
a commune, are called écarts»

1 A shell-hole beside the Clos-le-Roi road at Gault bears this in*
scription : " Here perished four brave French officers* Pray for them/'
The officers were Captain Guillain, Lieutenants Chevrinet and
Basselly, and Second-Lieutenant Richard, all belonging to the 70th
regiment*

• And more than 400 wounded* Cf* Dr* V ♦ ♦ ♦, En suivant les
soldats de V Ouest (Ouest-Éclair of February 3, 1917)*

* " At the foot of the wooded heights which dominate the north of

The 7th of September 53

162nd were still heavily engaged» But in the morning 1
the effects of this diversion had not yet made them-
selves felt. Punished by heavy artillery established at
Chenaille and Andecy» the 162nd, even although sup-
ported by the two artillery brigades of Colonel Coffee,
the one near Chapton. the other near the Ferme-des-
Épées, had not been able to debouch from Soisy» The
village was on fire» At eleven o'clock the 162nd was
obliged to abandon Soizy and fall back on the castle of
Chapton where the 16th battalion of chasseurs, detached
to support it «helped to defend the park» Colonel Margot
was seriously wounded at the Branle wood» where the
94th and a battalion of the 151st flanked the left of the
162nd, which had several times been obliged to rally
its disconnected units with the help of the cavalry»
The concentric fire of the German batteries made this
wood a veritable nest of shells ; it became every
moment more evident that the enemy sought to cut
off the 42nd division from the main French army»

This explained the relative respite he accorded to
our central artillery duel» From the two lines of heights
which rose from the borders of the marshes» the oppos-
ing batteries shelled each other reciprocally» Our

the village» great tombs are arranged in lines. They bear witness to
the furious nature of the battles which were waged by the brave men
of the 162nd, the 6th colonial, the 19th and 8th chassear$~à-pied> the
5th and 7th tirailleurs, the 94th of the line and the and zouaves, who
sleep side by side under the folds of the tricolour." (Gervais-Cour-
tellemont, Les Champs de bataille de la Marne*)

1 It was towards midday that the co-operation of the Xth corps
became actually effective* The news was brought to the knowledge of
the troops at 1.30.

54 Foch at the Marne

aeroplanes had gone to seek out the emplacement of
the German batteries that morning* We had fired from
the heights of Mondement, of Broyés, of Mont- Août,
while from the plain two of our brigades kept a guard
on the debouches of Saint-Prix; two others towards
Bannes guarded the debouches of Coizard and of
Morains* The Germans fired from Chenaille, Congy,
Courjeonnet, Toulon and Mont-Aimé, the wooded
hollows of which offered favourable cover for their
heavy guns. The shells crossed each other above the
marshes, but the enemy artillery had a longer range
than ours, and we had to cope with his destructive fire
by increased mobility» Towards eleven o'clock, after an
aerial reconnaissance by the Germans, a fierce howitzer
fire decimated the gun-crew of Captain Boisricheux's
5th battery, and he was obliged to fall back* The other
batteries suffered no less» Lieutenant Gripon of the
4th fell mortally wounded ; Lieutenant [Caron of the
6th, though wounded, remained at his post ; the com-
manding officer of the Geiger squadron received a
more serious injury and had to hand over the command
of the brigade to Captain Naud» The general impres-
sion among the troops was that the enemy had the
superiority in gun-power* 1 All over the hills, telephone
wires, laid on the bare ground, put his observers in

1 " The fighting on the 6th did not seem to me to be decisive* On
the 7th, the enemy established a superiority of gun-power over us.
He increased it on the 8th/' (Diary of Lieutenant Alouis, attached to
the major commanding the and brigade of the 49th artillery.) Captain
de Boisricheux, mentioned above, was killed in May, 191 5, the second-
lieutenant of the battery in 1916; Lieutenant Croix of the same
battery was wounded on August 30, 1914*

The 7 th of September 55

communication with his batteries» M» Roland also
observed during the night "little luminous globes
below the emplacements of these batteries, signals of
course, of a pinkish colour, which were doubtless not
visible to our observers/' If the German artillery did
experience a shortage of munitions on the Marne, it
was certainly not apparent yet ; 1 his shots, in com-
parison with ours, were in a proportion of five to one»
The big shells of the 150 mm» guns made a noise like
an advancing siren and wrung cries of fury from our
men* " Ah, Germany ! " exclaimed an old major re-
proachfully» his eyes turned up to the sky» every time
one of these monsters roared past overhead»

The enemy reserves in the villages» absorbed in less
lyrical necessities» proceeded to minute domiciliary
requisitions» " As we had eaten nothing for four days»
one of the German deserters * confessed» " the order
had been given to seize all food that could be found»
As a matter of fact» everything was taken» even the
money from the tills» 8 After which» as at Villevenard,

1 M. Gervais-Cotirtellemont estimates the number of large-calibre
shells (150) which the heavy guris from Villevenard vomited forth on
the plateau of Mondement, the village, the farm, and the castle, at
" more than 20,000/'

* Letter to Abbé Millard» " They were dying of hunger/ 9 says the
mother-superior of the convent at Andecy. " They had been told,
' Look for something to eat/ They stole anything they could find/ 9

• " We went back to the house. What devastation 1 The windows
broken by shrapnel, the old firearms, which had been taken to the
Mairie, lying broken in the court, the flag of the fire-brigade and the
tricolour ribbon from the bust of the Republic torn to pieces, the old
sabres of the fire-brigade bent, the cash-box of the schools forced open
and the contents stolen, the finest pieces of the collection carried away ;

56

Foch at the Marne

where the cash -box of the school had been
robbed ♦ ♦ ♦*

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦

The officers reserved the castles, ancient and
modern, the aristocratic crown of the marshes, for
themselves* They did not burn them all, like those of
Mondement and Chapelaine, but they robbed them
all without exception, from the charming castle of
Congy, which belonged to M» Patenôtre, to the castle
of Baye with its mouse-eaten towers, the birthplace
of Marion de Lorme, which suffered a systematic
robbery, testified to by the inscription on the door of
the chief apartments of the name of the Duke of
Brunswick, the son-in-law of William IL 1 These

silver bracelets, gold rings, bronze and copper coins, ancient and
modern medals (thirty Roman coins, Romulus-Remus, Ceres,
Augustine, the Children and the Wolf, Louis the Fair, Bonaparte at the
Pyramids, Cross of a pontifical soldier, Cross of the Legion of Honour
of 1830, Academic palms, the agricultural Croix du Mérite, silver,
silver-gilt, and bronze medals, rare 5 franc pieces, etc.)* Everything
was removed, from the cellar to the granary. Empty wine, lemonade
and Vichy water bottles lay everywhere. We walked over piles of
broken dishes, and over the remains of their orgies — watches, brace-
lets, and a quantity of other things that escape the memory. A secret
drawer of the bureau in the drawing-room forced open and burned.
Shirts had been taken away, with a quantity of other linen, from the
overturned drawers. The violin, the phonograph, the magic lantern
had been broken, a child's money-box forced open and emptied. No
coin escaped the covetous investigations of the barbarians, who had a
lust for gold, silver, and any rare and valuable objects/' (Journal of
M. Roland.)

1 The details which follow here of the conduct of the German
soldiers at Fromentières are too disgusting for repetition. (Trans*
lator's Note.)

* See the Appendix for the report on the robbery committed at Baye»

The 7 th of September 57

wholesale robberies, less dangerous, but no less pain-
ful than the war of movement, gave rise to much heart-
burning and bitterness.

On the eve of the battle of the Marne, the German
throat evidently felt itself capable of absorbing the
whole of Champagne» It was not only at table that the
corks popped ; according to the inhabitants of this
district, the German officers, wherever they went,
were followed by wheelbarrows and perambulators
full of bottles of champagne, which they emptied as
they went along» Pitiless in regard to their cellars*
they nevertheless showed themselves good-natured
towards the persons of the inhabitants* Atrocities
were committed in the Marne» as in Lorraine and in
Belgium» but to a lesser extent» and nearly always by
isolated groups of soldiers» 1 The troops had evidently
received orders that this population of wine-growers
was not to be too much aggravated» just as they had
received orders to respect the vines themselves in view
of the next vintage» which was to be the " vintage of
the Kaiser/' There was no uncertainty» no fear in the
hearts of these men in regard to the issue of the struggle»
They were not even astonished by the resistance offered
by the French ; " the last efforts» they thought» of the
creature in its death-struggle»" To-morrow» this even-
ing, perhaps» the shouts of victory would be heard»
And immediately afterwards the entry into Paris would
follow, the final scene» On the slopes of Chenaille»
where he was guarding some dug-outs» a German
soldier» about thirty-five years of age» of a " grave and

1 See in the Appendix the official report on these atrocities»

5«

Foch at the Marne

almost timid expression/' drew his watch out of its
horn case before the schoolmaster, and indicating
the hours with his finger, said, " Midday here —
Paris there i " "In your imagination perhaps/' re-
plied M. Roland : " Paris is five kilometres beyond
the marshes, and Frenchmen are defending the ap-
proaches to the capital/'

But before taking Paris it was necessary for the
enemy to take Mondement, the plateau of Sezanne,
the line of the Aube, and things were not moving so
quickly as the naivete of the Germans expected» The
42nd division was still holding its ground between the
forest of Gault and Soizy-aux-Bois* No sacrifice was
too great for it, nor for the Xth corps : the second line
regiment alone had lost its commander, Colonel Perez,
half of its officers, and nearly two-thirds of its effec-
tives before Char le ville. But the enemy's losses were
still more severe. Grossetti, who commanded the
Verdun division, was as fine a general as Humbert
who commanded the 1st active Morocco division*
Grossetti was a massive Corsican, 1 whose imperturb-
able tranquillity under shell-fire had given rise — as
in the case of Gustavus Adolphus — to a legend of
invulnerability; he already gave promise of that

1 General Grossetti, who commanded the 42nd division from
August 28 till November 8, 1914, was born at Paris,but was of Corsican
descent according to some accounts, though others claim for him an
Italian origin* " It is to him, 9 ' wrote one of the most brilliant of our
officers, placed under his command, " it is to him that we owe the
dogged resistance of Foch's left wing, while waiting for the arrival of
the Xth corps. He proved his splendid qualities of command and of
endurance at that time/ 9

The 7 th of September 59

semi-fabulous figure, the " Bull of the Yser," the
future victor of Pervyse and of Ramscappelle* Not
content with having extended our positions round la
Villeneuve, he was anxious to recapture Soizy and
Saint-Prix, with the help of the Morocco brigade,
which, however, had just been forced to abandon Oyes,
on the outskirts of which the enemy had organised
a powerful fort, liberally supplied with field guns.
These audacious backward and forward movements
were called by Grossetti " weaving " operations* But
in the meantime Dubois had sent the 77th, the best
of his regiments which was for the moment disen-
gaged, to Humbert ; in reserve at Allemant it supplied
him eventually with valuable support* The co-opera-
tion of the Morocco division was thus made possible,
and at five o'clock in the evening the attack was launched
towards the wood of Saint-Gond by the tirailleurs of
Colonel Cros, and towards the Branle wood and Soizy
by the 42nd division* On both fronts the attack hurled
itself against a wall of shells* 1 but it held the enemy*

1 " At four o'clock in the afternoon the 16th chasseur regiment had
already attempted an offensive on the crest to the north of the Castle of
Chapton* Caught in the flank by machine-gun fire, it stopped and dug
itself in* From five till seven o'clock the 94th counter-attacked in its
turn, to retake the lost ground, but without success. During the night
it bivouacked near the park and farm of Chapton. ♦ ♦ ♦ However hard
the day's fighting and marching had been for the 42nd division, one
can imagine how opportune was the movement which brought it in
the direction of Soizy-la-Villeneuve* A few hours later, and the
Germans would have forced their way south* finally turning the
marshes of Saint-Gond on the, west, while the French Army Corps
to the east would have bent under the pressure* The tenacity of the
troops was above all praise» If ground had been ceded at Chapton or

6o Foch at the Marne

and imposed on him a defensive attitude* Mondement,
for some hours at least, was saved»

The position of the castle had not ceased to be
critical up to that time» The enemy» attacking in the
wood of Saint-Gond at break of day, had» after a
struggle of two hours, thrown back the troops of Colonel
Cros and the units of Fellert's regiment which sup-
ported them, towards Oyes» Humbert had been
obliged to summon the Blondlat brigade from the
Broussys, where it had been able to leave only a cover-
ing screen of troops by reason of the enemy's feeble
resistance on our centre» With the Sautel and Lachèze
battalions the front was hastily organised between
Montgivroux and Mondement» But even this front
could only feebly cover the position, against which
the enemy was exerting his greatest effort» Three of
our batteries installed near the castle searched the
woods from which the enemy was expected to debouch
in serried masses, with heavy fire» The Germans had
not yet replied to our fire» They were probably bring-
ing up their heavy guns» It was not till nine o'clock
that the first shell fell on the castle and destroyed
part of the wall near one of the corner towers» Other
shells fell on the wings, then on the roof, which
blew up in an explosion» 1 The fire lessened a little

at la Villeneuve, a disaster might well have occurred» * Whether you
are at la Villeneuve or at the wood of Bout-de-la-Ville/ said the liaison
officer of the Fifth Army to General Grossetti, ' does not matter. The
essential thing is that you hold firm» If you hold, all is well/" (Journal
of General X . ♦ ♦)

1 " Three batteries emplaced beside us opened fire in the direction
of Talus» The Germans did not reply at once» Towards nine o'clock

The 7 th of September 61

towards midday. Humbert arrived then, fresh from
the battle, his appetite sharpened for revenge by the
long circuit he had been obliged to make in order to
reach our lines* " He has just lunched/* writes the
Curé of Reuves» " He is in great spirits, alert and
cheerful/' It was amazing to the good ecclesiastic, who
preferred a crust of brown bread in time of peace to
any feast in the world served under shell-fire, to hear
Humbert call for a tablecloth, for serviettes ; to observe
how he wished to do the honours of the table to all the
" house of Jacob " in that great dining-halh What a
strange desire, and at such a time 1 But this gaiety, this
cheerfulness under bombardment, was not a bad sign ;
the moral of the leader is a good criterion of the moral
of his men» " He holds them in his hand/ 9 writes Abbé
Robin ; " his slightest wish is obeyed* It is enough
for him to say, ' We must resist ; the welfare of France
demands it/ "

Every man understood» This defiance» almost fool-
hardiness of their chief, this absolute disdain for danger,
was the best of tonics for his men» During the fiercest
moments of the bombardment he was to be seen with
his staff-officer* now at the foot of the towers, now
beside the church» looking through his field-glasses at
the great plain which lay stretched out at his feet» 1 and
44 where under a burning sun the 77th regiment was
deploying in fan-shaped formation as a screen towards

their first shot destroyed part of the wall near the tower ; from time
to time, on both wings, there were explosions on the roof»" (From the
account of the Curé of Reuves*)
1 Asker, op* ciU

6 2 Foch at the Marne

Alternant." Humbert's openly showing himself in the
danger zone may have been the " best of tonics " for
his men, but it immediately attracted the enemy's fire
towards Mondement : the enemy was bound to know
that our headquarters was there. Lunch was hardly
finished when the castle, the church, the fields and the
roads were literally inundated by 105 and 150 mm.
shells. M. Baur, the chief surgeon, who was watching
the battle, leaning against a great elm tree, was killed
instantaneously ; the shell, exploding just beside him,
mowed down tree and man at the same moment*
Another shell fell on the general's escort, killing and
wounding several of his cavalry. The roads became
impracticable for motors. But Humbert remained
cheerful, full of confidence. " The Germans," he said,
" are bottled up. Mondement is the cork. It must
hold firm at whatever cost." And in order that it should
hold, Humbert was ready, if necessary, to sacrifice
everything down to the last man, the last cartridge.
His soldiers approved this determination of their chief.
Death is lightly regarded in these days. At six o'clock
Abbé Robin cautioned a group of zouaves, who were
returning, black with powder, their bayonets twisted,
to the castle. He asked them naively if they had
" triumphed." " We have driven back the Germans,"
they replied ; " but not far enough. To-morrow we
will resume the offensive — or to-night."

They said nothing of the heavy losses they had
suffered for a slight advance, and that in one " special
action " alone. The course of this day's fighting had
cost the French " five-sixths of the effectives of a force

The 7 th of September 63

of zaoo Moroccans/' * As Mondement seemed to be
more and more drawing the enemy's fire, Humbert was
obliged, during the afternoon, to change his field head-
quarters to the boundary south of the wood, and his
general headquarters to the Castle of Broyés, 2 which
was both less exposed and more central* Broyés is an
ancient barony, the powerful lords of which possessed
in the eleventh century all the parish of Sezanne except
the estate of Saint-Martin-de-Tours* The castle lies
half-way between Oyes and Sezanne* It is a handsome
building with a great porch and the high red-tiled roofs
common to all the manor houses of the district* From
the terrace of this castle the general could see the whole
plain of the Aube as far as Troyes* It was no longer an
episode but the whole battle which lay stretched before
him, as if in relief on a large map* " In the evening,
when night fell/' wrote Asker, a staff-officer, " the im-
mense plain had a curious powdery effect, enveloped
in a reddish copper-coloured cloud, in which every-
thing was blended, as if in a vision of the Apocalypse —
the last rays of the summer sun, the whirling clouds
of dust raised by the guns, the infantry and the cavalry,
the innumerable explosions of shells, the flames of the
burning houses and villages* And how well one under-
stood from the commanding height of this terrace that
it was indispensable, essential, that our division should
hold good J " 8

1 La Guerre en Champagne. But we do not think these figures can
be accepted without further proof*

' Sometimes called the Château des Pucelles.

• Asker, op* ciu Another combatant, E. C.,a private soldier, expresses
himself in almost identical terms : " The view from Broyés is superb*

64

Foch at the Marne

It did hold good* The staff of the division in retiring,
pressed, no doubt, by more immediate anxieties, had
forgotten the poor civilians of Mondement, thrown by
a caprice of Providence into the midst of this tornado
of fire. But the castle continued to serve as a barracks
for the soldiers, who did their best to reassure and calm
their hosts. When the fusillade crackled a little
nearer, they would explain to the inhabitants that " our
guns " were firing. And the bombardment seemed to
be quietening down ; the worst of the storm seemed to
be past. " The Germans must have been driven back/'
wrote Abbé Robin on the evening of the 7th. " At any
rate we think they have been/'

This optimism was to receive a rude shock in the
night, but at that time there was nothing unreasonable
in it. Though the enemy had taken Oyes, we had con-
tinued to occupy Reuves and the three Broussys, where
the enemy contented himself with bombarding us, with-
out developing a serious attack. He did not even take
possession of Bannes. Indeed, it almost seemed at first
as if he wished to neglect this route. Although it was
hardly more than seven kilometres in a direct line from
Bannes to Fère-Champenoise, he preferred, in march-
ing on F ère, to use the main road which led to Morains
and which gradually inclined towards the railway. But
his progress on this sector of the front was not
appreciable till midday.

How impressed one is with the importance of the Mondement posi-
tion, in measuring with one's eye the plain which extends as far as
Troyes 1 It is not without a shudder that one contemplates retreat from
such a position/'

The 7 th of September 65

A little before eight o'clock on the morning of the 7th,
the Nacquart battalion had been obliged to evacuate
Morains and fall back, threatened as it was with being
cut off by enemy forces which advanced along the
railway line with machine guns* At the same time, the
company of the 77th which was guarding the flank at
Aulnay-aux-Planches found itself obliged to recross
the marshes. 1 The loss of Morains soon made itself
felt* The German artillery was punishing us severely
on that part of our front which acted as a hinge between
the IXth and the Xlth corps* Some wavering had been
felt in these corps from the beginning of the bombard-
ment ; it spread to the wings ; the enemy had his
Guard there which he used as an arrow directed against
our lines. Warned intime, General Radiguet, command-
ing the 2 1st division, opened fire on Morains ; in the
evening, learning that the village was still occupied,
and requiring water for his troops on the left, he asked
Moussy, who commanded the neighbouring division
of the IXth corps, to attack it with melinite shells from
6 to 6.30, concurrently with his own artillery. The 41st
brigade was to attempt, after this preparation, to re-
capture the village. Moussy himself, in order to dis-
engage the left of the Xlth corps, launched the 90th

1 " The commanding officer of the company of the 77th regiment
which was at Aulnay-aux-Planches entered Bannes and informed
Colonel Lestoquoi that the enemy was bombarding Morains-le-Petit,
that machine-guns and infantry were coming along the railway line,
and would arrive at Morains-le-Petit towards eight o'clock. The
colonel informed peneral Moussy, But the 32nd, which was at Morains,
had already commenced its retreat/' (General Moussy*s Journal of the
Campaign»)

!

66 Foch at the Marne

regiment in an attack on Aulnizeux and Aulnay-aux-
Planches from the other side of the marshes ; a flank-
attack conducted by his chief of staff, Major Jette,
carried the first of these villages and completely
arrested the enemy offensive.

Not for long certainly. That same night Aulniseux
was recaptured by the Germans and Major Jette was
killed. 1 But it had cost the enemy no less than three
attacks to dislodge us from the village. And over
practically the whole front, before the firm attitude of
our troops, and in spite of the entry of the enemy's
heavy artillery established towards Clamanges, the
Germans had been forced to " suspend their forward
march. ♦ ♦ ♦ We remained in command of the battle-
field/' a What is to be understood by this statement

1 A splendid officer, whose loss was deeply deplored by the staff of
the 17th division : after the German retreat his body was found, " his
head riddled by bullets/' Lieutenants de VareiUes-Sommières,
Terpereau and Alloncle were killed at the same time* According to
Abbé G. Voûlereau the attack took place at eight o'clock in the evening»
44 The main body of the regiment was quartered in farms at Aulnay* ♦ . ♦
The Germans watched from their cleverly disguised trenches at Aul-
nizeux* A detachment, commanded by Lieutenant de Vareilles-
Sommières, went round behind the village to surprise the Germans in
the rear* The Boches let them approach quite near, and then shot them
down point-blank* In the meantime Major Jette had the call to
charge sounded* Some accounts affirm, on the contrary, that the
Germans sounded the French call to charge, in order to deceive our
men* In any case they flung themselves on the enemy trenches, and
charged with the bayonet, penetrating right into the streets, etc/'
Abbé Voillereau thinks the attack failed in the long run. But there
were several attacks, and it is certain that at seven o'clock in the evening
Moussy was informed by Second -Lieutenant Bouchère of the
Engineers that Aulnizeux was in our hands*

* Letter from a military chaplain in the Éclair of February 17, 1915*

The 7th of September 67

is, that although we had gained little ground, we had
also lost little, and nothing more was asked of us at
this time» On the outskirts of Écury (which the 3rd
Alexandrian regiment had entered towards midday on
the 6th) as on the outskirts of Morains, the battle con-
tinued all day on the 7th without any advantage for the
enemy» 1 And the 18th division» which had arrived the
previous evening at Troyes, was put at the disposal of
Eydoux ; its two brigades» the 34th under General
Guignabaudet and the 35th under Colonel Janin,
bivouacked behind the units of the Xlth corps» the first
towards Connantray» the second in the direction of
Normée, 2 and they were to deploy on the following day»
la the meantime the Xlth corps» augmented by the Joppé
division» extricated itself successfully from the action
in the Somme-Champenois» from Normée and Somme-
sous» The closing in of this little river of clear waters»
which flowed between high-wooded slopes» had made»
it is true» an excellent line of defence» The enemy beat
against it without gaining any advantage» " Bullets
rained from every quarter/'we read in the field note-
book of a German officer» 8 " We could not advance
any further : the enemy was too strong for us» On our

1 The Archives cantonales of Vertus.

a To be exact» the 34th brigade» by regiments drawn up in echelons,
was in the woods to the north of Hill 179 ; the 35th, in successive regi-
ments» in the woods astride the Fère-Champenoise road, between Hills
159 and 156* Both brigades were covered by the outposts of the Xlth
corps» The 36th brigade (77th and 135th) and Nacquart's battalion of
the 32nd regiment of the 35th brigade, co-operated with the 17th
division from August 22nd*

'Extracts from this notebook, found in the trenches on the Aisne,
were published by the Daily Telegraph of October 19, 1914.

68 Foch at the Marne

left the XJXth Saxon corps arrived in time to give us
a short breathing space» The shell-fire was infernal»
We suffered from overwhelming thirst» A glass of
Pilsener would have been welcome» All of a sudden a
shell fell in the wood and killed six men of my section ;
a second fell right in the midst of us ; it was impossible
to hold out any longer ; we retired» We tried several
times to reach the village of Lenharrée, but the French
artillery swept the whole wood, so that it was im-
possible for us to advance» And we could not discover
the emplacements of the enemy *s guns»"

The precision of our fire had astonished this officer,
who accounts for it in this strange \yay, that the
Prussian Guards were fighting " on ground which the
enemy knew as well as the palm of his hand," and
which was " one of his usual fields of fire»" The officer
was equally astonished by the " immense reserve of
munitions " which we had found to oppose the enemy» 1
On our extreme right, l'Espée's division continued to
fill up, as best it could, the gap between the Ninth and
Fourth Armies, and established contact towards Som-
puis with Cary's XVIIth corps which had succeeded
in gaining ground from the XlXth German corps» 2
The resistance von Hausen met with there and on
the Somme gave him cause for reflection, and he
demanded reinforcements» Von Bulow, on our left,
feeling his progress arrested between Soizy-aux-Bois

1 See the Appendix for the complete report of this officer»
* Gustave Babin, op* tit. Von Hausen's army, which attacked the
forces of Foch and de Langle simultaneously, as von Bûlow attacked
Foch and Franchet d*Espérey, consisted of three corps : the Xllth
regular, the Xllth reserve and the XlXth»

/

The 7 th of September 69

and Chapton, where we received the Boches on our
bayonets, and further west towards the forest of Gault
and Charleville — von Bulow also appealed for reserves»
They arrived during the night, A massed attack on
our wings was arranged for three o'clock in the morn-
ing- ** The weather is fine, a little cold," notes
M. Roland. " During the night incendiary fires con-
tinued at Oyes, Reuves, and even at Villevenard itself ♦"

Tragic torches ! planted around the marshes to
illuminate the watching and waiting of hosts of armed
men.

We were now entering on the critical phase of the
battle.

7o Foch at the Marne

IV

THE 8TH OF SEPTEMBER

The manœuvre followed by von Bfilow and von Hausen
was fortunate for them, and conformed to the best
military principles» Its only fault was that it was carried
out forty-eight hours too late» The German leaders on
the Western front were not really wanting in the sense
of tactics so much as has been thought ; but an inborn
heaviness of mind, a habit of laboriously digesting
every factor of a situation, combined with an exag-
gerated respect for method, nearly always prevented
them from intervening at the right moment» On no
single occasion did they show one of those flashes of
inspiration which decide the fate of battles ; however
slightly they might lose the initiative, one has seen
how it completely discountenanced them and made
them incapable of improvising a new plan in revenge»
In war, according to Napoleon, five minutes make all
-the difference between victory and defeat»

That was the case on the Marne» Joffre's great arrest-
ing stroke gives every evidence of having overthrown
the enemy's calculations» Like a bird shot in full flight,
this immense army which fastened on the French had
lost, both on the Ourcq and on the Marne» all liberty
of movement in its wings» But» to continue the meta-
phor» this army had still beak and claws — and cash-

The 8 th of September 7 1

box. Forty-eight hours earlier, von Hausen and von
Bulow could easily have liberated their wings and
re-established their position by a crushing blow on our
centre. Was it still possible for them to do this on the
8th i They meant to attempt it in any case* At three in
the morning, in pitch darkness, after sending forward
their heavy artillery, the Guard and the Xllth Saxon
corps (active and reserve) went forward to the east of the
marshes ; von Bûlow's Xth active corps, reinforced by
units of the Guard, advanced on the west, both simul-
taneously falling on the flanks of the Ninth Army.

The pressure was so formidable that we could not
resist it» 1 The Guard had only its infantry at hand ;
its cavalry was performing evolutions further to the
west on d'Espérey's right flank. But it was that cele-
brated infantry of which the 35 battalions, footguards,
grenadiers, fusiliers, chasseurs, tirailleurs, would have
none but picked men in their ranks, which were filled
with that type of sandy-haired, blue-eyed Colossus
recruited exclusively from the warlike provinces of old
Prussia* The same system of selection applied to the
officers, who nearly all belonged to the nobility and
bore the stamp of the public school. 2 General Baron
von Plettenberg was in command of the active corps of
the Guards, while General von Gallwitz commanded
the reserve corps* Forgetful of the lesson which
Lanrezac had taught them at Guise, and manoeuvring,

1 " It was the Imperial Guard : we had to fall back hurriedly* It is
difficult to get the better of these men, etc." (Letter from Second-Lieu-
tenant M ... in the Courrier de Sezanne, September 18, 1915*)

1 M. le Gome's phrase is Écoles Supérieures* (Translator's Note»)

72 Foch at the Marne

moreover, under the protection of an overwhelming
artillery, these picked troops flattered themselves with
having quickly cleared the ground in front of them*
Von Hausen's Saxons, troops nearly as brave and as
stable, had no intention of being in the background ;
and the commencement of the action seemed Jo justify
the expectations of both German leaders.

At seven o'clock in the morning, at the very moment
when Foch issued his laconic " order of the day " :
11 The situation is excellent : I command that the
offensive shall be again vigorously prosecuted," * we
were informed that the whole of our right wing had
been driven back to a depth of four kilometres : Len-
harrée had been carried during the night, after a furious
struggle and the particularly energetic defence of a
bridge-head on the Somme, whose clear waters were
stained that day by the blood of those who would fight
no more* The bridge-heads were held by units of the
19th regiment from Brest, the 11 6th from Vannes and
its reserves of the 316th* They fought to the death*
But our outposts before Normée were overwhelmed
and scattered in all directions, leaving the 35th brigade,
which had bivouacked in the woods, uncovered» At
Lenharreé our troops had been driven back from the
railway and on the slopes behind them the village was
burning* The enemy, having forced the bridge, turned
furiously to the assault of the church* A final hand-to-
hand struggle was waged in the cemetery, half-way up
the hill on the edge of a great smooth declivity, still

1 This seems to give the sense, rather than the exact words, of Foch's
order.

The 8 th of September 73

out up and strewn with debris from the German
attack» 1 This time, in spite of the heroic defence of
Captain de Saint-Bon 2 and units of the 225th regiment

1 The German graves are more numerous than ours : they number
about a hundred, and include the graves of four officers* The French
graves also, both in the cemetery and near it, contain the remains of^ .
a number of officers : Major Baudisson and Captain de Saint-Bon of
the 225th, Captain Deschard, Lieutenants Gay and Lescouet, Second-
Lieutenant Gaudon of the 19th regiment»

1 Nephew of the famous Admiral de Saint-Bon, who was for many
years Minister to the Italian Navy. This Captain Henri de Saint-Bon
had, before the war, acted as Aide-de-Camp to the Vice-Admiral
Prefect at Cherbourg, but on the outbreak of war had asked to be sent
on active service* Being left the only officer at Lenharrée, with a
sergeant and two decimated companies, he was mortally wounded at
four o'clock in the morning, and refused to allow his men to carry him in.
" Don't come near me," he said : " don't get killed yourselves to save
me." When the Germans entered the village, they found him lying on
some straw in a barn, where he was attended to by one of his non-
commissioned officers, Sergeant Saffre, who Was wounded like himself,
but who survived him. A surgical operation might have saved Saint-
Bon ; the enemy did not have it performed. But afterwards, according to
the Abbé Ncrct, when it became known to the enemy that Lenharrée
had held out so long, with only two companies to defend it, the Saxon
commanding-officer made his men pass in front of Captain de Saint-
Bon and the other wounded French soldiers, saying, " Salute them 1
They are brave men 1 "

Some confusion still exists as to the date of the capture of Len-
harrée, which Abbé Neret definitely places on the 9th. But on that
day our troops had already fallen back on Gourgançon. The official
account of Henri de Saint-Bon is nevertheless very explicit : " Having*
seen, on the 7th, all the officers and non-commissioned officers fall
successively around him, Saint-Bon, during the whole afternoon and
the following night, himself commanded the defence of the village
against overwhelming enemy forces. Mortally wounded at four o'clock
in the morning, he forbade his men to approach him, crying, ' Do not
come near me. Don't get killed yourselves in order to save me.' "

74 Foch at the Marne

of Cherbourg, which he commanded, we were obliged
to fight a retreating battle towards Connantray, disput-
ing every inch of the ground, profiting from the
slightest unevennesses or undulations, which were
numerous in that hilly district of Champagne-Pouil-
leuse, and, once on the plateau, utilising the cover of the
pine-forest. The same fecoil took place all along the
line of the Xlth corps, and, by a counter-stroke on
the right wing of the DCth, to the south of Morains*
There the attack on the rear of La Grosse and the
Petite-Ferme and the disorder into which Moussy's
ranks were thrown by the inhabitants fleeing before
the Germans, led, towards nine o'clock— after an
admirable resistance by the 90th regiment, deployed
at the edge of the coverts of Champ-de-Bataille —
to the sharp recoil of Moussy as far as Mont-Août. 1

(De Langle de Cary.) On the other hand, the 225th belonged to the
60th reserve division, which was implicated, like the z8th, in the retreat
of the Xlth corps*

1 " Attack on the rear of Grosse and Petite - Ferme. Fusillade,
cannonade, confusion of the 290th, 293rd, 65th ♦ ♦ ♦; the cavalry
came back in disorder among my artillery. Retreat at 7.30. Were at
nine o'clock in the woods, line of Mont- Août, Puits» ♦ ♦ . " (General
Moussy's Journal of the Campaign.) See also the letter of Lieutenant
Lalance (October 1, 1914), who has since died a glorious death : " On
September 8, the 2nd company of the 90th regiment, separated
from the rest of our battalion the previous night, left Bannes
towards five o'clock in the morning. Having received no orders, we
marched towards the violent fusillade we heard, in the direction
in which we expected to find our battalion. After crossing the wood, we
gained the right of the 2nd battalion, which was deployed along the
Bannes-Fère-Champenoise road, and was holding an attack launched
from the direction of Morains-le-Petit. . * ♦ We had hardly arrived at
the bocder of the wood, when we were exposed to a violent fire directed

The 8 th of September 75

•

The same thing happened at Vassimont, at Haussi-
mont, at Sommesous, where Lieutenant - Colonel
Guibert of the 6oth division fell, and where the rail-
way, the junction of the Chalons and Vitry-le-François
lines, was the scene for two hours of the swaying
fortunes of the battle : captured, lost, recaptured three
times by our troops, who charged with the bayonet in
pitch darkness* But it finally remained in our hands» 1
The way lay open» The ground was cleared of the
enemy on all the hills towards Fère-Champenoise*
That town was built in a hollow where the defence
could not be organised, except on the heights, and
these were directly overlooked by the enemy* Such

against the company on the right of the and battalion* A small part
of the enemy force had succeeded in outflanking us, so that we
were assailed both from the front and the flank* After the first few
bullets had whizzed past, at the moment when I turned to warn
Captain Gauroy of his danger/ 1 saw him stagger and fall* . • • It was
not till about8«30* when, being obliged to give ground* I ordered the
company to fall back* that I found his body lying on a stretcher*
Always in the front rank, Captain Gauroy had known how to win the
admiration and esteem of every one under his command*"

1 The struggle was equally fierce at the other side of the village, the
junction of the Chalons and Vitry roads* It was between units of the
247th and 336th French infantry regiments and the 103rd Saxon
infantry. (The Illustration of November 7, 1914, gave a drawing of
this action, made on the spot after information from military witnesses
who had taken part in it*) These same units, with some others of the
248th and the 62nd, were also engaged in the action beside the station*
Major Bouchaux of the 336th was killed and buried there* The graves
of Lieutenant-Colonel Guibert, Lieutenant Duncker of the 247th, and
Sergeant André Renaud of the 336th are in the cemetery, with this
account of Renaud's gallant deed : " He left the trench to rally his
men who were falling back, brought them forward to the firing line
with the greatest courage, but was himself mortally wounded/ 9

7 6

Foch at the Marne

was the confidence of the inhabitants, however, that
the military chaplain whose letter we have already
quoted calmly celebrated mass in the parish church
of Fere, " filled with soldiers and townspeople who
had been deprived of the offices of religion for several
weeks/' * During the celebration " loud reports were
heard on the walls of the church ' ' ; the windows were
blown to pieces ; the alarm was given» Instantaneously
the church emptied : our reserves took to their heels
in the direction of the alarm. The first runners had
already put the town on its guard. Fear whispered all
its terrors from their lips ; — that we were betrayed,
that one of our covering regiments, surprised while it
slept, delivered into the hands of the enemy by its
officers, had been killed to the last man,* that one of
the brigades of the Lef èvre division had laid down its
arms, that another had turned its back, and that finally
the enemy, descending on Fere by the Morains and
Normée roads, was not more than 200 metres from
the station* 8 ♦ ♦ ♦ The enemy had been held up for a

1 The Curé of Fère did not leave the town till Saturday, September 5*

* La Guerre en Champagne says with more moderation, though still
with exaggeration : " In these battles of the marshes of Saint-Gond,
there were equal losses on both sides, including the slaughter of Fère-
Champenoise, where a French regiment, surprised while it slept, was
wiped out by the enemy, their guns being left in piles behind the
trenches/' (Dr. Voillereau.) More than 3000 of our soldiers, one reads
elsewhere, were killed outright in the Fère district alone. The
cemetery of that .town contains the graves of Colonel Mézière, Major
Jette and many other gallant officers.

* All these accounts were exaggerated. It was here that the 32nd,
the only regiment of the 35th brigade which had been surrounded,
made a desperate stand in the wood, losing its commanding-officer,

The 8 th of September 77

short time, ♦ ♦ ♦ not for long, for the German batteries
were quartered in the midst of this " brazier/' The 93rd
regiment, which had already lost its brigadier, Colonel
Lamey, had now also lost its commanding officer,
Colonel Hétet, in a trench at the railway station* Two
companies of the 347th regiment, in holding the Bannes
road, had wavered and retreated ; nearly all the officers
and non-commissioned officers were killed and two-
thirds of the effectives disabled ; the remainder had
fallen back with difficulty, leaving their wounded on
the railway line half-way between Fère and Connantre* 1
These wounded were rescued and carried up the hill of
Sainte-Sophie, under the direction of Captain François,
a staff-officer, to allow of the reorganisation of the
scattered brigade* Fère was evacuated about nine
o'clock without having been greatly injured during the
battle ; the opposing artilleries had searched for each
other on either side of the town, which had itself only
received stray shells** At 10*30 in the morning/ the

Colonel Mézière (whose heroic death is commemorated by a stained-
glass window at Fère-Champenoise), Major Humbert, and all its
officers with the exception of eleven» But the self-sacrifice of these
officers saved the greater part of the men» As for the 34th brigade
(114th regiment, Colonel Briant; 125th, Colonel Deschamps), far
from having played the treacherous part attributed to it, it supported
the units of the 35th regiment and helped them to re-form and fall
back in good order on Œuvy, without leaving one wounded man in
the hands of the enemy*

1 Letter of Second - Lieutenant Firmin M ♦ • . from the
Courrier de Sezanne, September xo, 1915*

* A few shells fell near the church, on the houses in the rue du Pont
and the faubourg of Connantre, but the electric station sustained the
only serious damage* -

• " Towards one o'clock in the afternoon," according to other

78

Foch at the Marne

Guard marched into F ère to the music of fifes, and took
possession of the Mairie and other public buildings
where guards were posted, while the main force, rally-
ing the Saxon troops who had come down from Con-
nantray, continued the pursuit towards Corroy and
Connantre» The headquarters of the Ninth Army,
established at Pleurs, fell back at the same time on
Plancy»

We now held nothing in this district but isolated
positions in the little pine-woods which were scattered
over the fertile plain* The 6oth reserve division, units
of which had been cut to pieces from Normée to
Sommesous, had also been swept away in the struggle.
Its artillery alone still continued to fire in volleys,
while retreating* It was commanded, it is true, by a
specialist, Colonel Bérubé, nicknamed " Bat-la-Crête "
by his men, because he was often to be seen in a
breach caused by the marvellous precision of his fire»
But for the rest of our units of the Xlth corps and the
35th brigade, save in a few cases it was complete dis-
location» All formations were intermingled» That was
the reason why» towards one o'clock in the afternoon»
in a little wood 1500 metres from Fère, two hundred
men of the 66th and 32nd regiments found themselves
suddenly surrounded* Their officers were either dead
or missing» They had now only a- few non-commis-
sioned officers, among them a sergeant-major of the
66th called Guerre» in whom the audacity and re-
flective spirit of the true leader were to appear»

accounts, which, however, agree that small bodies of enemy troops
had already penetrated into the town. .

The 8 th of September 79

The enemy was moving about on the plateau, but
Guerre did not hesitate a moment in attacking* For the
colours of the 32nd regiment had been left there, in
charge of a sergeant-major with a broken arm, a
quartermaster-sergeant, a soldier and a sapper — all
that was left of the colour-party, 1 and Guerre was
determined that the colours should not fall into the
hands of the enemy* The ascendency he had gained
over his small force was such that the men with
one accord ceded the command to him* He divided
his force into four sections and rapidly organised the
defence of the wood, which was rectangular in form,
sending one section to each of its borders» Memories
of the Napoleonic legend inspired him*

" Regard this as the square of Waterloo/ 9 he said
to his men* " We have a flag to defend» We will defend
it to the last/'

"We will, sirl We will !" they cried, infected
by his own burning enthusiasm»

Assured of defeating this small force by their
superior tactics, the Germans advanced in close
formation as if on parade»

44 Let them come," said Guerre»

And not till the enemy was well within reach did he
give the order to fire» The Germans, surprised, scat-
tered and fell back, only to return with a battery of
77 mm» guns which they installed 500 metres from the
wood» Our ranks observed this, and knew that the

1 Second-Lieutenant Menard, the colour-bearer of the 32nd, had
been killed : he is buried in the cemetery of Connantray, as are many
other brave officers of various regiments.

8o Foch at the Marne

wood would soon become untenable» Guerre decided
to attempt a sortie.

44 1 will go first with my section/' he said* 44 If I
succeed in getting through, follow me* If I fall, as
is likely, try and get the colours away by the other
side/'

He set out, but did not get far ♦ Contrary to his orders,
his men closed round him instead of spreading out. A
salvo from enemy machine-guns mowed them down*
Sergeants Ferdor and Sauseau, who were in command
of the other sections, were more fortunate, and suc-
ceeded in crossing over the enemy's lines with the
colours* One hundred and twenty men had set out :
not more than thirty arrived* Of the colour-party
only the sapper remained* 1 It was he who that even-
ing had the honour of handing the glorious emblem
to Colonel Janin, the commanding-officer of the 35th
brigade* * * *

1 He was called Malveau, and was afterwards decorated with the
military medal, as was Bourgoin, the soldier who accompanied him,
and who was the son of the Chief Engineer of naval artillery* In order
better to evade the enemy, the little troop had separated, and Malveau
and Bourgoin found themselves at one time alone* " Having lost their
bearings," writes one correspondent, " Bourgoin was set right by
JMajor von Archtenstau of the Guards, who, severely and probably
mortally wounded, called for help» Bourgoin dressed his wound» In
the course of conversation, the German officer caught sight of the
colours and understood what had happened* ' You are a brave fellow,'
he said to Bourgoin, and showed him what direction to take. That
was how Malveau and Bourgoin were able to cross the enemy's lines
at nightfall, and to collect on the way valuable information as to the
position of the heavy batteries of the Germans/' M. Georges Clemen-
ceau has related this incident, with slight variants, in L'Homme enchaîné*

S I

44
44

The 8 th of September 8 1

The violence of the Guards and of the Xllth Saxon
division (active and reserve)/ which were now attack-
ing, did not disconcert the imperturbable Foch*

Bah ! " he said the evening before to his staff»

When the enemy makes such furious attempts to
drive us back, it is because things are going badly with
him elsewhere, and he is seeking compensation»"

Not even the serious events of the morning caused
him to change his views» " Situation excellent/' he
telegraphed to the general headquarters in the after*
noon, using the same words he had used that morn-
ing in the order of the day to his troops» M» Babin
recalls that at the École de Guerre Foch was fond of
quoting this saying of Joseph de Maistre : " A battle
lost is a battle which one has expected to lose/' from
which Foch deduced that it was morally that a battle
was lost and that in taking the aphorism the other way
round one might say that a battle gained was a battle
which one had expected to gain — in which one would
not admit oneself defeated» 8 Foch had not lost the
battle» seeing that he believed always that he could win
it» and that up till the very end of the day he had harried
the enemy by his counter-offensives* Every one of
our French generals contributed, by some special
genius» to the victory of the Marne» The personal
contribution of Foch, his greatest virtue, was his
tenacity, a " calculated tenacity/' as General Foy

1 Babin, op. ciU The rest of the Saxons were engaged further south
against de Langle's army : " One brigade of the Xllth Saxon corps,
the 46th, to the south of Sompuis ; the XKth corps between Hum-
bauville and Courdemanges/'

* Principes de Guerre, chap* x* p. 369.

F

82 Foch at the Marne

described it. And yet that would not have been enough
without his marvellous gifts, both as a technician and
as a soldier, which allowed him to vary, according to
circumstances, the tactical opportunities of the units
engaged, and to invent every day a new disposition for
his troops* And this fertility of resource, this fine
sense for manoeuvring, these perpetual rebounds —
these are what constitute true military genius*

At one o'clock in the afternoon, under cover of fifteen
batteries emplaced to the west of Sainte-Sophie and
at the foot of Mont-Août, Foch threw his 52nd reserve
division from Puits on F ère-Champenoise* 1 At seven
o'clock in the evening he again pressed the attack on the
heights of the railway, which our artillery bombarded
energetically ♦ But a cordon of machine-guns barred the
Bannes road : pur troops could not get past them, and
were falling back towards midnight on Connantre, when
a mounted estafette stopped them on the railway line,
telling them to return to Puits-Perdu, to be ready to
resume the offensive from there on the following day* 2

1 ** A huge attack at one o'clock with the 52nd reserve division on
Fère-Champenoise." (General Mouss/s Journal of the Campaign.)
Other accounts say the attack was commenced at 3.30. Only two regi-
ments of the 52nd division took part in the attack, with some battalions
of the 17th division, which supported them in attacking the enemy's
right, to the east*

1 " The Germans occupied the road as far as Fere, the station
of Fère and the road leading towards Bannes* And it was on
this road that we were about to launch our attack* It was impos-
sible for us to get past the enemy. The situation was becoming
critical for me, as well as for my superior officers, when I re-
membered that the railway, at the entry of the line into Fere, was
strongly underbuilt* I at once made for that spot, where I installed my

The 8 th of September . 83

It is thus that a true leader knows how to keep his men .
in good fighting trim* Another counter-offensive
executed that same evening in the neighbourhood of
Connantray, by Eydoux and those units of the Xlth
corps which he had been able to collect, was more
fortunate, and succeeded in reoccupying the heights
to the north of Œuvy, Already towards Hill 128, at
the moment when the Saxon troops had crossed the
Maurienne, the 114th regiment had opposed their
further progress* The 60th reserve division deployed
towards Semoine ; the 9th cavalry division, which had
contributed (with two dragoon brigades under Séré-
ville and Sailly) to the arrest of the recoil following
the surprise of Fère-Champenoise, 1 supported this

company» I had not been there three minutes, when our artillery
commenced the bombardment of the station* I was only about ioo
metres from it* I fell back slightly to escape the short shots, and at
midnight» in silence, under the guidance of my major» who had rejoined
us, we were on the way to Connantre, when a mounted estafette
stopped us on the line to give us an order to report at Puits-Perdu
and to recommence the attack the next day» But the Germans
left us no choice ; it was they who attacked us and that furiously, at
break of day*" (Letter from Second-Lieutenant Firmin M » ♦ ♦,
Courrier de Sézanne, September zo, 1915.)

1 Quoted from a private letter. It may be said in passing, that it is
impossible to render too great homage to this splendid 9th division,
commanded by General de l'Espée. Its activity sufficed to impress
the enemy for the whole duration of the battle» and in resisting all the
Saxon flank-guard attacks, which did not cease for a single day, and
were especially violent at Sommesous, Vatry and Mailly, the 9th
division covered the right of the Ninth Army to the end of the battle*
Regarding the events of September 8, the two brigades of dragoons
and the artillery of the corps had passed the night at Mailly* General
de UEspée, with the brigade of cuirassiers, bivouacked at Villers-
Herbisse. The dragoons set out at three o'clock in the morning» A

8 4

Foch at the Marne

movement with its brigade of cuirassiers under Colonel
de Cugnac* And finally, on our left, Mondement, the
impregnable Mondement, continued to resist.

The throwing back of the Xlth corps by overwhelm-
ing enemy forces did not tend to make the position of
the IXth corps less precarious ; it held the western
promontory and the southern border of the marshes,
and the unity of the enemy's effort could not fail to
show itself by a vigorous attempt to drive the IXth
corps from these positions*

There again — a proof that von Bulow and von
Hausen were acting together — the attack was launched
at dead of night, towards three o'clock* The unfor-
tunate natives, who had gone to sleep full of confidence,
were awakened by a storm of explosions which left no
doubt as to the intentions of the enemy* It was the
usual artillery preparation which preceded great
waves of assault* Von Hausen, who commanded the
Xth German corps, was reinforced during the night
with sections of the Guard, and tried» by way of

battalion of the 248th, surprised at Sommesous, fell back towards the
south* General Sérévùle arrived and extricated them after a sharp
engagement* He was fortunate enough to be able to bombard, in the
rear, with his artillery, the position the enemy meant to occupy south
of Montepreux* Towards nine o'clock General de l'Espée ordered that
the division should be joined up between Mailly and Semoine, whence
it beat a retreat before advancing enemy forces, to the plateau of the
Arbre-de-Justice» It was there that l'Espée received the order, at
two o'clock in the afternoon, to rest the attack of the XVIIth corps on
Sompuis ; but judging that he was too late to operate with his whole
force, he contented himself with detaching Séréville's brigade and one
battery, whose intervention at the end of the battle had a great
moral effect*

The 8 th of September 85

Oyes and Montgivr oux, to infiltrate his forces around
the castle* " At three o'clock in the morning/' says
the Curé of Reuves, " our machine-guns came into
action»" Their fire drove the enemy back into the
wood* Humbert and Grossetti, whose action was
closely connected, combined in a simultaneous renewal
of their converging movement on Saint-Prix» Boichut
to the left from Chapton, and Barthal to the right from
the Haut-des-Grès, carried out a systematic artillery
preparation on Talus» Loisy, le Botrait, the crest of
the Signal du Poirier» and Oyes» 1 to make it possible for
our troops to approach these positions at dawn» But
the enemy was constantly receiving reinforcements»
The massing of his troops was signalled from Ville-
venard : columns of all arms were marching towards
Saint-Prix» and behind the enemy's first line of bat-
teries» between Congy and Baye, a new artillery was
unmasking itself: it resumed the bombardment of
the castle» suspended for a short time to allow of
the advance of enemy troops» « » » Mondement — the
flames dancing through its broken windows — saw the

1 " From 3.30 to 5, the 4th and 6th batteries (of the 2nd brigade of
the 49th artillery) bombarded the village of Oyes* Then Colonel
FeUert's tirailleurs advanced to the attack. ♦ . . At 8*30, the counter-
battery fired on the supposed enemy position to the north of Ville-
venard* The enemy replied immediately by a violent volley of 150
mm* shells, which neutralised the group. Lieutenant Cheronnet was
killed at his post. I was in telephonic communication with him at the
time from headquarters. I went at once to the battery : he was sitting
behind the waggon» without any apparent injury» just as he had been
hit. Beside him» a non-commissioned officer» who had also been
killed, was still holding the receiver to his ear/ 9 (Journal of Lieutenant
Alouis.)

86 Foch at the Marne

glories of its ancient splendour fall around it : every
moment a new breach was opened in its walls ; all
that remained of the high red-tiled roof was shattered ;
the magnificent limousine was reduced to fragments ;
a horse, the last in the stables, the last hope of escape,
was crushed below the debris.

The unfortunate inmates were crowded together in
a cellar ; the tower which rose above it tottered and
fell, its ruins partially blocking up the only entrance
to their refuge ; a little more and those within would
have been buried alive» Terrified by this last disaster
they left their cellar, which seemed now more unsafe
than the open* They ran to take shelter on the
plateau, under a great elm tree : a shell burst right
above them, others ploughed into the earth all around»
41 It was impossible to remain outside/ 9 wrote Abbé
Robin* " We went back to the castle : a bomb pierced
the façade just beside us ; to crown our misfortunes,
we had no more food» We made up our minds to leave
the castle» But M» Eugene Jacob refused to go with us»
4 You must go/ he said» * Leave me here»* We refused»
He should be carried if necessary» At last it was settled»
We set out» We only got about fifty metres from the
castle» At this rate, under constant and terrible fire,
our little party would never have arrived at its destina-
tion had it not met a patrol on its way to Sezanne :
these brave men agreed, in passing through Broyés, to
carry an urgent request from the fugitives to General
Humbert» 1 The general at once sent off one of his

1 Asker, op. cit., says that it was a peasant who carried a message
from the fugitives to General Humbert during the night» We have

The 8 th of September 87

officers in a motor car* Over broken roads, full of shell-
holes, in dead of night and under heavy fire, it was a
miracle that these poor people arrived without further
mishap at Broyés, where the crowd was so great that
they had to spend the night on chairs. The next day a
carriage took them to Sezanne, where they joined the
train for Montereau» But the strain had been too
much for M» Eugene Jacob, suffering as he was from
advanced heart disease» He died while stepping into
the train* ♦ ♦ ♦"

In order to counteract the dangers which threatened
Mondement, Dubois had, the previous evening, de-
tached the 77th infantry regiment from Moussy's
corps, and had sent it to support the tirailleurs and
zouaves who were attacking Saint-Prix with the 42nd
division» The 77th had bivouacked in the castle of
Mondement» and in the morning had deployed towards
the Signal ; one of the reconnoitring parties» pushed
audaciously forward by Captain Henrion as far as
Soizy-aux-Bois, made two prisoners — the first, it was
said, of the day» 1 That was the only part played by
the 77th in the attack, which was a brilliant affair, and
which threw disorder into the ranks of the enemy,
surprised by those he counted on surprising» At 6-30
in the morning, master of the stream and of the little
wood to the south-west of Oyes, Colonel Eon, 1 who

preferred to follow the account of the Curé of Reuves, which we
received through Abbé Millard»

1 These movements are well described in the account by the soldier
Elie C ♦ ♦ ♦, who was with the 77th at Mondement» See Appendix»

1 Now General Eon»

88 Foch at the Marne

commanded the attack on the right, flung the tirailleurs
and the zouaves to the assault of the Poirier ; the hill
was captured, and this fine feat of arms was completed
by the conquest of Oyes and its heights» At the same
time Colonel Trouchaud, in oommand of the 84th
brigade, who directed the attack on the left of the 42nd
division, hurled the 162nd on Soizy-aux-Bois, which
he carried in a bayonet charge, and where a company
of the 77th put him in touch with the troops on the
right» The 8th chasseurs occupied the Botrait wood ;
the 16th, the wood of Grandes-Garennes» which was /
thoroughly searched by a battalion of the 151st, that
had come to make les Culots its headquarters* Could
we have gained a greater success from that time < Were
Cros and Fellert afraid of being outflanked or of hurl-
ing themselves against superior enemy forces towards
Voizy and Usages i The one on the Poirier, the other
resting on Reuves and Oyes — both thought it necessary
to establish themselves provisionally in the defence of
their new positions» And the subsequent course of .
events showed that their precautions were not unneces-
sary» Two brigades of artillery were sent to the rear of
our trenches on the Signal du Poirier : they were of
service to the 42nd division» which with magnificent
spirit continued its march on Saint-Prix and the Petit-
Morin alone» 1

1 It does not appear, however, that its units went further than Hill
140 (the chapel and bridge of Saint-Prix)* Rain was falling heavily
and made fighting in the wood very difficult. All accounts of this '
affair leave a confused impression : one account holds that it appeared
as if the German resistance was weakening, that the enemy was pre-
paring to retreat ; another insists that the enemy was considering a

The 8th of September 89

Part of Blondlat's brigade remained on the line
Broussy- le -Petit — Mesnil - Broussy ; the 77th pre-
served the liaison between the Signal du Poirier and
Soizy. It kept that liaison till late in the afternoon, till
three o'clock, to be exact* At that moment 1 an order
from Dubois recalled it urgently to reinforce his right,
compromised by the wavering of the neighbouring
corps : the regiment was to proceed immediately
towards Saint-Loup. It set off* In the midst of a
battle such an important gap in our lines could not
escape the enemy's notice, 2 and he judged the moment
favourable to attempt a new attack on Mondement, by
way of Oyes and Broussy-le-Petit*

From the evening before, in concealing his move-
ments by shallow trenches, in making use of the natural
pathways whose borders of trees and rushes offered

new direction of attack. Whichever it may have been, it is certain that
the enemy laboured feverishly at the organisation of the defence of
Talus-Saint-Prix ; that the Ménétrier brigade, established at midday
near la Villeneuve, opposed the enemy with all its might. The
Aubertin brigade supported the advance of the 151st towards les
Culots ; the Alvin brigade was on guard from eleven o'clock towards
the Signal du Poirier ; the two brigades of Colonel Coffee supported
the Morocco division. At nightfall all this artillery, except one brigade,
was in position to the south of Soizy, bivouacking, as if quite at home,
near Chapton, where the farm continued to serve as headquarters for
the staff of the 42nd division*

1 Dubois' order reached the staff at 2.30, but it did not arrive at our
front lines till between three and four o'clock.

* The more that some difficulty and confusion resulted among our
.troops. " Units of the 77th fell back little by little, the Morocco
division thought a general order to retire had been received : it com-
menced to fall back in its turn/' (E. C.) But Colonel Cros, by the
energy and bravery of his personal action, rallied his men and led
them forward again.

go Foch at the Marne

some cover, the enemy had won his way forward in the
marshes towards the two villages* Even by the road
which led from Villevenard to Oyes along the banks of
the Bonon, a small affluent of the Petit-Morin* he crept
about three o'clock in the afternoon towards the
barricade thrown across the road near the priory of
Saint-Gond* Our positions had previously been
heavily bombarded : the marshes were nothing " but
a cloud of smoke " ; 1 shells had rained all that morning
on " Oyes, Reuves* and Mondement." a Shortly
before three o'clock they began to fall on Saint-Gond*
Rising out of the moat, which was just visible under
a profusion of water-plants, the disused priory of Saint-
Gond, situated in the midst of the marshes, formed a
kind of island seven arpents in extent* (The " arpent "
is an ancient Celtic measure of land which has remained
in use in France*) Of the original abbey* burnt by the
Huguenots, rebuilt in the sixteenth century and con-
verted into a priory* practically nothing remains* Of
the priory itself only a few relics still exist ; the bell of
the great gate* the arch of a beautiful Renaissance
window built into the wall among common rubble* a
fragment of the glazed brick pavement of Chantemerle*
and two or three of the old trees which shade — in the
midst of these ruins — the rustic roof of the last hermit

1 From M. Roland's Journal* The mother-superior of the convent
at Andecy wrote : " The sky is obscured by powder and smoke*
which fills the very air we breathe/'

1 " On Monday we fought more to the right* Then, on Tuesday
morning, we returned to Villevenard about seven o'clock* ♦ * . At
three o'clock in the afternoon the order arrived to advance*" (Letter
from a German deserter to Abbé Millard, June 13, 1915*)

The 8 th of September 91

of Saint-Gond, Abbé Millard, Correspondent to the
Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, and mem-
ber of the Société Française d'Archéologie. The learned
ecclesiastic lived there, far from the world, with no
company save that of his books and the clamorous
croaking of the frogs* The frogs seem amply to have
revenged themselves for the time long ago when St*
Gond, whose spiritual raptures they disturbed,
obtained a promise from Our Lord that He would
only allow them to raise their voices in rotation* It
was asserted even in the eighteenth century that only
one frog could be heard croaking in the marshes at a
time* 1 But when the priory was forsaken, the inter-
dict no doubt ceased, and Abbé Millard is too full of
gentleness and kindness to demand its re-enforcement*
Divided between his studies and his rural pursuits —
for the one of which he dons a scarlet fez, brought
back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for the other a
hat woven out of rushes, which gives him the appear-
ance of one of the haymakers of the neighbourhood —
Abbé Millard was engaged shortly before the war on
a new edition of the Life of St. Gond, to which he had
meant to consecrate the last efforts of his pen* But his
labours were interrupted by illness* He was confined
to bed when the imminent arrival of the Germans was
announced* " Then I shall see Attila again/' he said*
But his housekeeper had no such intention* She was
a masterful woman, who, except for a few private
matters, managed her master's affairs with a high hand*

1 Mémoires Historiques de ta Province de Champagne, by M. Baugier,
Seigneur de Breuvery, 1731* See Appendix*

92 Foch at the Marne

u

What have you to save here, M* le Curé i " she
asked him* " As regards parishioners, you have none,
except the frogs» They can very well defend them-
selves alone against your Attila* We must go, and at
once/' And she lifted her master into a wheelbarrow*
and so conveyed him to Oyes* 1

It was none too soon : our tirailleurs had arrived*
That particular spot, an elbow of the road with the
ruins of the old buildings* seemed suitable for an
ambuscade* An officer shouted an order : with stones,
trunks of trees, bundles of sticks* furniture* upturned
carts* all manner of things taken from the old priory
and the neighbouring farm of la Lune, the soldiers
constructed an imposing barricade* Some barbed
wire and a continuous trench, as practised by the
Germans, would have been better* But we remained
faithful to our old mistakes ; our men fought nearly
everywhere in the open or behind stacks or trunks of
trees* So that, with its two little " niches " 8 for
machine-guns at each end* the barricade served its
purpose well enough* and the men made good use of
it* according to the testimony of a deserter from the
enemy force which had been ordered to carry the
position* This deserter* at the first opportunity* took

1 1 have since received a caustic letter from Abbé Millard : " I was
not taken to Oyes in a wheelbarrow/* he writes» " I walked there
myself, my stick in my hand, and the servant took the books and other
things I required, in the wheelbarrow» It was my first outing after
eighteen months' illness. Please suppress the illusion about the wheel-
barrow* Do not weave legends : it is difficult to destroy them/' I
received this letter on September 17, 1916 : hence this note»

* This expression was used by Abbé Millard»

The 8 th of September 93

refuge in a cellar of the priory» In spite of volleys from
the 75 mm. guns which swept Chenaille, les Usages,
Voizy and the hills of Saint-Prix, the Germans " de*
scended and scattered their troops among the slopes
of the vineyards/' M. Roland, from the depths of his
vault, followed all their movements with his field-
glasses : " German infantry were swarming behind
the houses of the village. ♦ ♦ ♦ Guns were placed
against the walls and in the gardens/' Soon afterwards
" the troops were seen advancing along the course of
the Bonon, across the marshes/' The fierce summer
heat had dried up the deep bed of the stream, which
offered good shelter for the enemy. " We crawled
along like snakes/' wrote the deserter we have already
quoted, to Abbé Millard. " Finally we arrived at the
abbey in front of your house, where an ambuscade
had been erected. Your Senegalese troops at once fired
on us ; we fell over like flies. Our officers shouted :
4 Fix bayonets 1 ' and we rushed forward. ... As for
me, I took refuge in the nearest cellar behind the
house/' He stayed there till eight o'clock in the
evening. 1 During that time, the barricade had given

1 This deserter is the same as the one mentioned by M. Roland.
The reader may perhaps be curious to hear the end of his Odyssey.
" A German soldier, his cap on his head, his coat over his arm, with-
out weapons, came towards me on the cross-toads, brought forward
by M. Leon Langlais. The soldier addressed me, and asked me, in
good French, to take him to a commanding-officer* He had been
hiding in a cellar of the Priory of Saiht-Gond, and wished to give
himself up ; his company, many of whom lived in the neighbourhood
of . . ♦, had. had enough fighting. His village, of which I have for-
gotten the name, is . • . kilometres from the frontier. ... He had
taken advantage of the retreat of his regiment. ... He had got a

94 Foch at the Marne

way ; further to the east, the enemy — who had pushed
his machine-guns half-way along the Joches high
road under cover of the fir trees of la Verrerie —
drove us back from Broussy-le-Petit and then from
Mesnil-Broussy» Reuves, in its turn, fell about five
o'clock, Oyes at six, in spite of the splendid resistance
of the zouaves under Captain Cuttoli» 1 But these were
the final efforts of a resistance now at its last gasp*
All our gains of the morning had been lost : the
Blondlat brigade on the right had fallen back on Alte-
rnant ; the tirailleurs of Cros and Fellert on the left
had been driven violently towards Montgivroux* 2

bullet in one of the fingers of his right hand two days before, and
required to have the wound dressed* As we talked, we met a major
of the Engineers, who was on horseback inspecting the plain. Two
other officers rode by his side» The prisoner talked to him and
answered the questions the major asked him» Tears came into his eyes,
but he was reassured when the major said to him : ' Don't be afraid
of anything, my friend, no harm will come to you ; your wound will
be dressed and you will be given a brassard of the Red Cross to

wear/ "

1 See Appendix» " Day and night," says one account, " fighting
went on in these villages» Rifle-shots, bayonet charges, cries, groans,
intermingled with the rumbling and bursting of shells/' In the course
of the forward and backward movements which hurled the adversaries
at each other, the villages were taken and retaken (according to the
same witness) three or four times» At Oyes, where Captain Eugène
Parés of the Algerian tirailleurs was killed on September 6, we lost
also Lieutenant de Varennes, who was hit by a bullet in the forehead
while making a reconnaissance/'

1 " Seven o'clock» The infantry has fallen back» There is nothing
now between us (artillery) and the enemy» The brigade (and and
49th) is retreating along the road from Mondement to Alternant,
where it will spend the night, covered by all that remains of one or
two companies of tirailleurs. » « « It has been a decisive day as far as

The 8 th of September 95

During the night the enemy pushed forward to
within 1500 metres of the village and entrenched in
the stubble fields, where he awaited the break of day
to resume his victorious advance*

The situation seemed hopeless» But Humbert, who
had now no reserves except Tisseyre's battalion of
zouaves, ordered the French to hold on, to take ad-
vantage of every hollow, every undulation in the
ground : he did not allow his artillery, caught as it
was under heavy fire, to seek new positions in the rear.
Dubois, his chief of staff, who now on the right, now
on the left, followed the oscillations of the battle, and
who, during these days, had found the means to come
to the aid of the neighbouring corps, while defending
foot by foot the enormous front entrusted to him —
Dubois was no less intractable ; he excused no giving
way, and he wrote to one of his divisional commanders
who was outflanked, that his retreat was inadmissible,
that he must deal summarily with deserters, and that
failure to carry out orders received was a grave indict-

the superiority of the German artillery is concerned* We are bringing
up the rear of our troops/' (Lieutenant Atoms' Journal of the
Campaign»)

We may add here that at 1*30 in the morning, the brigade formed
up in position along and to the east of the Broyés road, and that the
6th battery (Naud) went forward at dawn along the Montgivroux
road, towards the Castle of Mondement. This battery, and the 4th,
were intended by Humbert to act as a flank guard for the castle and
the village, and he had given orders that they should be established
thete the evening before* The order, by some error of transmission,
not having been carried out, Humbert sent Colonel Barthal at dawn
to proceed with the operation» But it was too late ; the guns were
hardly installed when they had to fall back*

9 6 Foch at the Marne

ment against the officer who received them* On the
new line, Montgivroux — Allemant — Mont-Août —
Puits, while awaiting the arrival of the 77th regiment,
which had set out for Saint-Loup in torrents of rain at
five o'clock in the evening, Dubois sought to fortify
his right flank, uncovered by the retreat of the Xlth
corps* Eydoux, from behind Gourgançon, re-formed
his scattered effectives, and out of these disconnected
units in a few hours he created an army» Although
we had given way to some extent in our centre,
Franchet d'Espérey on our left advanced practically
along the whole line* Maud'huy with the XVIIIth
corps had forced the Petit-Morin and taken posses-
sion of Marchais-en-Brie» Hache with the Illrd corps
cleared the road to Montmirail, which he entered
at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and thus constituted
a menace to the flank of the enemy corps, which con-
tinued to mark time in the Charleville-Corfélix region»
This menace was further aggravated at the close of the
day by the gains of the Xth corps towards Boissy-le-
Repos»

Flux and reflux, that constituted the history of the
battle, and in spite of appearances there was yet no
cause for despair» Certain signs revealed confusion in
the enemy's ranks at least as great as in ours» " One
phrase of an Order for the Day, found on a wounded
German officer, tends to show," says M» Babin, " that
the enemy staff had not great confidence in the possi-
bility of his advancing : it prescribed that the regi-
mental trains should have their engines turned round,
facing north»"

The 8 th of September 97

Was it already the " effect of suction/' the " cup-
ping-glass " of which so much has been said, produced
by the sharp attack of Manoury on the flank of von
Klûck's army i — von Klûck who, in order to parry an
enveloping movement, hastened to close up his line,
imprudently extended i Whatever the cause may have
JgKm'bm** 8 the German high command
hesitated : all evidence goes to prove that it did not
know whether to follow up or to arrest the offensive* 1
The enemy spent nearly the whole of one day in
equivocation, and in the course of that day, the gth,
he made one supreme effort — which was after all
perhaps nothing but a hastily conceived manœuvre
to deceive us as to his real intentions»

1 What is to be thought of the confidences of a German officer " of
mark " to a Spanish journal, Euzkadi, from which the Renaissance
published an extract in its issue of October 14, 1916 i The battle of
the Marne was then in its fifth day*

" It seems/ 9 he wrote,' " that Manoury must have exhausted him-
self in these formidable attacks* But Von Klûck had grown weaker
also» It was at this juncture that the general who had taken the
offensive (Von Klûck) called urgently for the IVth reserve army corps,
which had remained at Compiègne* He called for it that he, in his
turn, might envelop the troops of Manoury, that he might fall on
Paris from the north. But Moltke was informed of this, and as he
perceived that Von Bûlow on his left wing was being vigorously
attacked by General Foch, he commanded that the reserves from
Compiègne should reinforce the ranks of Von Bûlow and not those of
Von Klûck. The IVth corps was to effect an encircling movement
But it lost a great deal of time ; and at the last moment, because its
commanding officer acquired the conviction that the great danger
approached by the Ourcq, the order was given that the reserve which
was advancing to the aid of Von Bûlow should return towards the wing
which was almost surrounded* But it was already too late/'

9»

Foch at the Marne

THE 9TH OF SEPTEMBER

Day broke on a sky still reddened by the angry glow of
burning villages» All night long, beneath the moon, the
" savage dogs of Pomerania " had howled round their
bivouacs in the marshes*

Heavy showers had fallen the previous night, but
the moon had cleared away the storm, and though the
sky was clouded in the morning, no rain fell till nearly
four o'clock in the afternoon, shortly before the German
retreat was sounded* But these showers could not be
described as that " torrential downpour " which,
according to some historians, " quickly filled the
marshes, dried up by the intense heat of summer/'

There is no doubt that the Marshes of Saint-Gond
are no longer so imposing as they used to be ; the great
lake of quaternary times, the immense emerald set in
the silver circle of the low-lying hills of Champagne, has
disappeared* But the hidden treasures of the marshes
bear witness to the former existence of lake cities, the
remains of which one can still discern below the
surface* Such as they are, and however dried up they
may become, there is no drought capable of drying up
that part of the marshes which has not been reclaimed
by cultivation* Under the dense growth of reeds,
which in September attain to a height of over seven
feet, they present at every season of the year the most

The 9th of September 99

deceptive, the most pitiless of snares* And this is the
part of the marshes which forms a border to the high-
roads for the greater part of their length*

Since the evening before the dust and smoke of
battle had covered them with a thick veil* 1 But these
daily smoke-curtains* fatal perhaps to other troops*
served the plans of the enemy* who had not yet shaken
off the oppression of the Hercynian Forest* and who
seemed to have formed an alliance with all the obscur-
ing forces of the atmosphere* While* at break of day*
Blondlat attempted to put his brigade in touch with
Fellert's troops, an entire German brigade* which had
taken up its position unknown to us below Oyes** made
a sortie from its lines* threw the infantry of Jacquot
and Toulet into confusion* and flung itself with a
sudden rush on Mondement* It was impossible to
hold out against such forces* The 6th battery of the
49th brigade* which had just got into position on the
esplanade* had only time to yoke up its horses : during
the moving of this brigade* Colonel Barthal was killed
by a shell* 8

1 " The smoke became so dense that at times it completely blocked
our view and prevented us from observing the movements of the
enemy/' (Henri Libermann» op* cit.)

' Asker, op* eft. : " But here something very serious happened*
An entire German brigade debouched from Reuves towards Monde-
ment. * * ," See Appendix: The jyth at Mondement : " A brigade
debouched from Oyes early on the morning of the gth, seized the
castle, etc."

* Lieutenant AlowV Journal also reports this incident : " Our guns
of the 6th battery were hardly in position when the bullets began to
whistle: at the same time bursts of shell-fire exploded near us*
The enemy was attacking Mondement : his storming party appeared

ioo Foch at the Marne

Mondement, left to itself, fell after a mere show of
resistance» Finding himself at once master of the castle,
which assured him ultimately the key of the marshes,
the enemy organised his forces in a masterly way;
blocked up all openings with mattresses, placed machine
guns on every floor, even in the granaries* At the same
time his light batteries hurried forward by the Saint-
Gond and Reuves roads, now clear for his troops* And
in the beautiful salons, ornamented with charming
Louis XV* panels, his staff was installed, a staff
said to include an august personage believed to be
Prince Eitel*

But Prince Eitel was said to have been seen in many
different places during the Battle of the Marne ; at
Baye, at Coulommiers, at the castle of Mareuil-suivAy,
at Chauffry and so on* 1 This ubiquity of the modern

with a rush, barely 500 metres away* It took our outposts — tirailleurs
wearied with ceaseless watching— by surprise; they scattered and
took refuge in the castle and in the village to the north* Gun-limbers
were hurried up. In spite of losses among teams and crew caused by
the enemy's fire, I was able to get all the guns away, and left the posi-
tion accompanying the last waggon, drawn by a sergeant and a trum-
peter ! We rejoined the rest of the brigade, which still occupied its
former positions. I learned at that moment, about eight o'clock, that
the colonel had been hit. I went to him at once. He had been looking for
new positions on the Broyes-Mondement road, on horseback, when a
shell burst under his horse and broke his thigh. He was lying stretched
out in a ditch, black with powder. Major Chaigne, Captain de Bony
de Lavergne and the surgeon, A* M. bay, were with him. He was
quite conscious, and did not seem to be in pain. An ambulance was
hastily summoned : we laid him in it. Another shell burst quite near,
without, however, harming any one. . • • The colonel was taken to
Broyés."

1 But M. Roland told me that Abbé Favret had seen the cover of a
little cardboard box, found on the border of the marshes, addressed to

The 9th of September 1 o 1

Attila seems to throw some doubt on his presence àt
Mondement* And Humbert had other cares at that
time than researches into identification* He wished to
recapture the castle : he could not resign himself to
leaving it in the hands of the enemy — who might
perhaps have abandoned it of his own accord some
hours later* But with what forces was Humbert to
recapture it i He had thrown his last reserves into the
firing-line. While hoping that Dubois would be able
to come to his assistance, he asked the 42nd division
to lend him its chasseurs-à-pied, and he flung them,
with the remains of his own troops, on the castle. This

Prince EiteL " I was told by Captain Bérard, who was told by the
Abbé himself," said M« Roland (see Appendix)» It seems proved at
all events that a staff was installed at Mondement (though it might have
been only a battalion staff, as it has been ascertained from German
prisoners that it was a battalion and its staff which occupied the castle),
and that during the few hours which elapsed between the fall of the
castle and its recapture by our troops, this staff accounted for very
many bottles of wine» A journalist who visited Mondement some weeks
after the battle of the Marne, M. Magne of the Petit Parisien, estimated
the number of empty champagne bottles lying strewn on the floor of
the entrance hall alone at 300* " Three hundred < " said Felix, the
guardian of the castle, who had counted them : " say rather 800 " — a
proof that even journalists occasionally understate the truth»

According to another inhabitant of the Marne, M* Quinet of
Sezanne, whose motor was requisitioned that evening for the trans-
port of wounded, " there were mattresses covered with blood in every
room in the castle and on every table were glasses full of champagne.
One walked everywhere over the debris of broken bottles/' At Fère
and in all the Champenoise district, postcards of the Kiosk of Monde-
ment Castle were sold, bearing this legend : " Kiosk of Mondement
Castle, where the Crown Prince and the German staff were drinking
champagne when the first French shell broke in on them* After the
flight of the Germans their glasses were found, still half full/'

io2 Foch at the Marne

counter-attack failed» Very well ! it must be tried
again !

But that was just the time when Foch — his right wing
dislocated and obliged to fall back on Corroy, Gour-
gançon, Semoine and from there as far as Salon —
determined after consultation with Franchet d'Espérey
to attempt the most audacious of manœuvres» Checked
at Mondement, his centre wavering and about to lose
its strong position on Mont- Août» having no forces he
could use except the extremity of his left wing, he
decided to make this small body turn as on a pivot» or
to use less figurative language, to take the 42nd division
from his left and throw it to his right on the flank of
von Hausen» This fine manœuvre has been compared
with that of the Prince of Saxe at Saint-Privat ; it has
been regarded as the decisive action which determined
the fate of the battle ; 1 it might perhaps be more exact

1 Foch's instructions bore simply that " the 42nd infantry division»
as soon as relieved by the Xth army corps, will proceed to form itself
by Broyés and Saint-Loup into the reserve army of Linthes and
Pleurs/' That could not have been anything but a measure of pro-
tection against German attack. But Foch added : " The point of
to-morrow's manoeuvre is to debouch by Fère-Champenoise* For
this reason, report on all available forces and all activity in this district"
And he fixed the operation to begin at 10.15 the next morning, in
slightly modifying his directions : " The 42nd division will arrive on
the front Linthes-Pleurs. Whatever the situation of the Xlth army
corps, whether it be far to the rear or not, we count on resuming the
offensive with the 42nd infantry division on Connantre and Corroy,
an offensive in which the DCth army corps will take part on the right,
Morains-Fere-Champenoise/' No doubt was left after these two
orders; the flanking manœuvre was clearly indicated* We may,
therefore, hold it as proved, while recognising as we have done above,
that when it commenced the German retreat had already begun*

The 9th of September 103

to say that it precipitated that fate, which, from six
o'clock in the evening, could no longer be doubted* It
also freed the left of the Fourth Army which von Hausen,
strongly entrenched to the south of Vitry> could not
reconcile himself to abandon» 1 But at the time when
Foch conceived his manoeuvre, 2 his air-service had not
yet been able to inform him (as has been asserted) as
to the " existence of a gap " between the two German
armies» 3 The manœuvre was the more audacious on
that account* Its only drawback was that it left Monde-
ment uncovered for several hours — Mondement, where
the remains of the Morocco companies, nearly all their
officers out of action* wandered at random in the woods*
But the movement of the 42nd division had begun
at dawn ; the castle had not yet fallen* and it was
thought that the Montgivroux — Allemant front was

1 The struggle at this point (Glannes-Flignicourt-Marolles) lasted
till September ^ De Langle did not enter Vitry till the 12th ; but
from four o'clock on the morning of the nth* the evacuation of the
town had commenced*

* September 8, at ten o'clock in the evening»

* " Thanks to the aviators» the high command had been aware of
the existence of a gap between the armies of Von Bûlow and Von
Hausen» and it was that knowledge which allowed General Foch to
push forward his wedge. This gap was the result of Von Bulow's
retreating movement/' (Interview of Colonel Carlos Fernandez,
Military Attaché of Chili» with Fournier's agency» reproduced by
M. Fabreguettes.) Foch was not, however» aware of this gap till the
afternoon of the gth» but he profited by it at once» having the 42nd
division at his disposal» because the intuition of this great leader» his
presentiment of the imminent retreat of the enemy» had led him to
summon the 42nd by an order sent during the night* M. Joseph
Reinach recalls clearly that Foch had stated the principle of this
manoeuvre in his lectures at the École de Guerre*

io4 Foch at the Marne

sufficiently organised to resist the pressure of the
enemy till the arrival of the 151st reserve division of
the Xth corps* Events having belied these conjectures,
Humbert had turned back towards Dubois as towards
his natural protector* The 77th regiment hurried
forward ♦ And if we credit the account of Staff-Officer
Asker, the falling back of the 42nd division had been
for us " the best of windfalls/* for, whilst the infantry
of the division executed this " castling " movement,
its artillery was not required for two hours, and was
able, while passing through Broyés, to concentrate
its fire, for these two hours, on Mondement*

Formed up in a semicircle to the north of the
village, the six batteries of the division, augmented by
three batteries of the Morocco division now again in
action, opened an " infernal " fire of extraordinary
precision on the park, the woods and the slopes of
Mondement* The artillery was commanded, it is true,
by Colonel Boichut, 1 who has been called the " virtuoso
of the 75's, the Lord of Thunder/' According to all
accounts, it was " one of the most impressive artillery
actions " ever seen* Not only did the barrage it laid
down before Mondement prevent the enemy from
advancing, but it also gave the 77th regiment time to
arrive at its new positions, where without a moment's

1 One of our most brilliant generals to-day* This concentric fire
was an idea of Humbert's, at whose disposal Foch had put the artillery
of the 42nd division, while the infantry of the division was defiling
behind the Morocco division* In agreement with Grossetti, Humbert
used it between Broyés and the woods, with the objective of preparing
a general counter-attack on the castle and front of Mondement*

The 9th of September 105

halt, without even a mouthful of food, it took up its
position and deployed towards the castle» 1

The order to proceed towards Mondement had
surprised the 77th regiment near Saint-Loup, between
Linthes and Péas, at eight o'clock in the morning* It was
no longer raining ; the sun had risen, and with it hope
had sprung up in the hearts of the men» The company
captains had succeeded in procuring some mutton»
It was just about to be cut up : great cauldrons of
coffee were singing by the fire» » » » Shoulder packs !
March! — and that without having eaten the stew,
without having tasted the coffee 1 The greatness of
the sacrifice may be measured, when it is remembered
that for three days, almost since the beginning of the

1 Another effect of the artillery fire seems to have been the immedi-
ate evacuation of the castle by its staff. The general opinion in the
district» supported by various accounts published at the time and
afterwards, is that two German generals were killed in the course of
the bombardment, and Prince Eitel wounded. I have not been able
to ascertain on what evidence these reports are based. It is certain
that no body of a German general was found at Mondement after the
recapture of the castle, but it is true that the Germans, when they
found it impossible to burn their dead in the course of the battle,
carried them away, tied in bundles of four, in motor-lorries or even
in common carts, towards the crematoriums of Belgium. During the
whole night of the 9th, according to M. Roland, " a long procession
of these lorries descended slowly towards the marshes, looking perhaps
for the wounded." They passed back again at the same pace, and
M. Roland, a native of Lorraine, recognised them by the peculiar
sound of their wheels as waggons from Lorraine.^ But a motor having
" two powerful head-lights " which, coming from Mondement, tore up
the road towards Congy at full speed, particularly arrested his attention.
He believed it contained some " great personage " — perhaps Prince
Eitel, who was said to have been wounded, and who would therefore
have been left in the rear till nightfall.

u

44

1 06 Foch at the Marne

battle, these men had eaten nothing but raw beetroot»
Such was the moral of this regiment, that not one pro-
testing voice was raised*

The situation is grave, very grave/' said the chiefs,

but it is in no wise hopeless* Hold on till midday,
till the arrival of the 42nd division at Pleurs, and the
battle is won/'

Colonel (now General) Lestoquoi, commander of
the 77th regiment, had orders to send one of his
battalions immediately to Allemant, where it was to be
at the disposal of Colonel Eon, commander of the 36th
brigade» Colonel Lestoquoi and the rest of his force
were to make for Broyés with all possible speed» The
companies set out across the fields to save time» At
ten o'clock, Colonel Lestoquoi, who had gone on in
front, was able to reassure Humbert, to guarantee that
his men of the 77th would be at the rendez-vous by
io»jo» As a matter of fact, they were already at that
moment climbing up the steep ascent to Broyés»
Colonel Eon and the 2nd battalion of the 77th arrived
about the same time at Allemant» Humbert gave his
orders to the two chiefs» The most immediate danger
was to be parried ; Mondement not being accessible
till the approaches to it had been cleared, it sufficed
provisionally that Colonel Lestoquoi should estab-
lish himself strongly with one of his battalions at the
northern boundary of the Mondement wood, at the
axis of the road which ascends Hill 213 ; that he should
send another of his battalions to the west of the wood,
north of the pond called the Petite-Marelle» At
the same time, Colonel Eon, who was in command

The 9th of September 107

of the 77th, detached from Alternant, took this
battalion by way of the Châtaigneraie towards the
eastern boundary of the wood» The objective of the
two leaders for the time being was to act against the
enemy's flank, which was attempting to advance by the
clearing of Montgivroux» They must not allow him to
debouch from the wood.

From 1 1 «50 this objective was attained* The and
battalion under Major de Beaufort occupied the
southern boundary of the Allemant wood ; the 3rd
battalion under Major de Courson was stationed near
the Petite-Marelle pond, and joined up with the zst
battalion under Major de Merlis» A battery of the
Morocco division under Captain de Bornu de Laragne,
which had not left the edge of the wood, supported the
operation with a machine-gun section of zouaves» In
the course of this advance, Colonel Lestoquoi, en-
countering the Enaux battalion of the 208th, ordered
it to support the Merlis battalion» Everything was
going well» The preliminaries of the operation had
evidently succeeded, and Humbert showed himself well
satisfied» Suddenly the report went round that there
was no need to push the advance further, that Monde-
ment was captured, and that the tirailleurs of the
Morocco division were already installed there»

Colonel Lestoquoi, who was a little sceptical of this
news, wished to satisfy himself regarding it, and set out
with Major de Courson to make a reconnaissance ;
two zouaves, who went forward as scouts, were killed
by the explosion of a shell» Not only had the enemy
not abandoned the castle, but he had completed the

io8 Foch at the Marne

organisation of his defences by making loopholes in the
walls of the park and by posting his artillery at its four
corners. The village was no less strongly fortified
than the castle. Colonel Lestoquoi was able to see
with his own eyes how our artillery preparation had
everywhere ploughed up the approaches to the place,
but how the buildings and the walls were practically
intact : hence the necessity of immediately resuming
the artillery preparation*

In the interval, the order for the attack on Monde-
ment had arrived. The troops were to take possession
of the castle, then to push on to the north-west bound-
ary of the Allemant wood, in which it was not known
what had become of the zouaves. At 2.30 Colonel
Lestoquoi informed Colonel Eon that he was ready,
and only awaited the support of the 75 mm. guns.
There was not time to receive the reply : the fire had
stretched out, and Major de Beaufort with his battalion
and two companies of zouaves and tirailleurs collected
in the woods, prepared to charge.

But first, writes a soldier who was present, " M. de
Beaufort, ardent Catholic as he was, felt the need of
commending himself and his men to God. He called
a soldier-priest, Corporal Gallard, from the ranks and
asked him to give final absolution to such as wished to
receive it." x These soldiers were Vendeans, lads from
Cholet. They all fell on their knees.

Even to-day the few survivors of that moving scene
cannot recall it without emotion. The companies were

1 See in the Appendix the complete account of the attack, written
by this soldier, The 77th at MondemtnU

The 9th of September 109

massed about 500 metres from the castle, which they
were about to attack by the kitchen garden on the south;
the 5th and 7th companies were to follow the Broyés
road, which led up to the entrance ; the 6th and 8th
were to defile by the wood and utilise such cover as it
offered* The enemy artillery was searching for this
force towards the Ventes de Linthes, where they
believed it still to be. The men were " calm and con-
fident " ; some were even joking, caressing the points
of their bayonets» But one by one "the smell of powder,
the game of death, touched them/' Major de Beaufort
had drawn on his white gloves» He took one last proud
look over his battalion» Then he lifted his cane :
44 Forward 1 For France I Charge 1 " And he rushed
forward, followed by his men»

" It was a charge of dense serried masses/' accord-
ing to the soldier quoted above» " The men shouted
and sang» The bugles quickened their call till it
became a veritable gymnastic feat» Bullets whistled
past» Soldiers fell» Faster 1 Faster 1 The fusillade
was infernal» A breach was made in the wall of the
kitchen garden by one of our 75 mm» guns» Major de
Beaufort rushed towards it» He stopped for a moment
at the foot of a tree to decide on his tactics» 4 Ah I no
sign of them yet, these Boches 1 * he murmured» A
bullet right in the middle of his forehead stretched
him dead on the spot» His men wished to remove his
body» But the best way to avenge him was to advance»
Lieutenant Génois gathered a few soldiers together
and led them towards the breach» ' Go through by
the breach, my lads 1 By the breach 1 we will make a

no Foch at the Marne

fine shell 1 ' A private called Durand prepared to go
through when lieutenant Parpaillon put his hand on
Durand's shoulder : * Stop» Let me go first/ ' Go
on, sir/ replied Durand, ' I follow you/ "

It was magnificent, the fine spirit of emulation
between officers and men 1 Parpaillon was already on
the breach, his sword in his hand, shouting the cry
which since early morning had been on the lips of
every officer; which only died down in one throat
to be taken up with greater vigour by another :
" Forward I ♦ ♦ /' The shout died in his throat : the
walls of the castle were pierced by loopholes from
which the enemy shot us down point-blank. Captain
Secondât-Montesquieu, who had also reached the
wall, his sword drawn, prepared with Atlé his orderly
to jump into the court : the same bullet levelled the
heir to one of the greatest literary names of France and
the humble soldier who assisted him. Lieutenant
d*Yturbide went forward, and under fire took from
the fallen captain his pocket-book and his rosary,
precious relics to be sent to the family of the dead
hero. ...

And the hecatomb went on : after de Beaufort, Mon-
tesquieu, Parpaillon, Lieutenants Floquet and Rochier ;
the latter wounded in the hand refused to stop to
have his wound dressed, saying simply, " It is nothing.
Forward ! " Second-Lieutenants Noël and Bordin
were knocked over; Captain Henrion, Lieutenant
Marchand of the tirailleurs were severely wounded.
More than a third of the effectives were out of action.
But the charge persisted, the bugles continued to

The 9th of September 1 1 1

sound ; the soldiers, who had hoisted each other up on
to the wall, forming themselves into a sort of ladder,
shot at the grey uniforms over the top* In front of
the chief entrance a zouave was seen to take cover
behind the gate, and quite calmly — as if shooting at
the butts — take aim and pick off his man with every
shot»

But it was all no use* At 3.30 in the afternoon,
Colonel Eon ordered Captain Villers to fall back with
the remnants of the 2nd battalion, caught in the flank
by German machine-gun fire» Colonel Lestoquoi
transmitted the same order to five companies of the
1st and 3rd battalions which had supported de Beaufort»
The attack had failed once more» But our men had
not given in ; a unit of the 1st battalion, deaf to the
bugle call of the retreat, stuck to the crest of the
plateau, and continued to fire on the defenders of the
farm» Hardly were the companies re-formed when
Captain de la Taille, of the 36th brigade, announced
that after a new artillery preparation another assault
would be delivered» The men had taken that for
granted» Towards five o'clock, Colonel Eon called for
volunteers to carry forward two guns of the Naud
battery, 1 which, thanks to the dusk, they were able to
get within 350 metres of the castle in the direction of
the park» 2 Colonel Lestoquoi, on his side, succeeded,

1 Captain Naud had replaced Major Geiger, who was wounded on
the 7th while observing the enemy positions through his field-glasses»

* " Finally at four o'clock, a decisive resolve was made. Two guns
were taken up so near to the castle that it was even in sight ; after a
short but violent artillery preparation, the infantry would make a fresh
assault I accompanied Captain Naud in a reconnaissance of emplace-

ii2 Foch at the Marne

through the efforts of his intermediary, Staff-Lieu-
tenant Canonge (son of the General), in pushing for-
ward a gun to within 400 metres of the principal
entrance» 1 In less than ten minutes thirty-six melinitfe
shells fired from this one gun fell in a sudden gust on
the gates and the offices.

" Come on, my lads 1 Forward, brave fellows I "
cried Colonel Lestoquoi to his men* " One last push
and we are there 1 "

Three of his companies made a rush at the castle ;
four others threw themselves on the village* Night
fell* It was just half-past six* At 640 Colonel Lesto-
quoi received orders to stop the attack, 9 but he tried

meats for the guns. We walked along the Broyes-Mondement road
till the road from the castle was in sight. We were therefore about
300 metres from the southern façade* After consultation with Colonel
Eon, and in presence of Lieutenant Canonge of General Humbert's
staff, the two guns were taken up as silently as possible by the
infantry. Night began, to fall. . ♦ . Captain Naud was in command of
the gun on the left ; I took the gun on the right* He bombarded the
castle and the enclosure to the right ; I aimed at the tower and the
enclosure to the left* The walls were torn open by our explosives, the
offices were set on fire/' (Lieutenant Alouis' Journal.)

1 It is perhaps not unimportant to state clearly that Lieutenant
Canonge, charged by General Humbert to carry the order for the
renewal of the assault, took forward this gun to Colonel Lestoquoi,
forestalling the latter's desire, and that this was not, therefore, as has
been said, a chance coincidence.

* This statement is contested. " The order was never given," we
are told. " On the contrary, Captain Canonge, a staff officer of General
Humbert, was sent to carry a message to Colonel Eon and Colonel
Lestoquoi, ordering them to resume the assault at nightfall with the
support of guns taken right up to within a short distance of the castle.
Captain Canonge remained there, to ensure that Humbert's instruc-
tions were fully carried out, and did not return to headquarters till the

1

]

The 9th of September 113

in vain to arrest the victorious enthusiasm of his
troops» " A military order," said Napoleon, " only
demands passive obedience except when it is given by
a superior, who being on the spot at the moment when
he gives the order, has exact knowledge of the situa-
tion/' At any rate, the colonel went on, leading his
last company (the 9th, Captain Chausse), which he
rushed right up to the gates of the principal entrance»
The church, the farm, the park, and the castle were
captured» The operation was carried through by ma n
force, and with extraordinary speed and abandon»
Colonel Lestoquoi, Major de Courson, and Statf-
Captain Béziers-la-Fosse entered the castle, whence
the garrison had fled, 1 without a shot being fired» A
few houses in the village were still held by German
soldiers ; our men battered in the doors with their
muskets and rushed inside» It was a hand-to-hand
conflict, each man for himself» The remnants of de
Beaufort's battalion, eager to avenge their fallen leader,
rushed, in their turn, on to the plateau» All the enemy
troops who had escaped the bayonets of the 77th regi-
ment during the night were to fall under the enfilad-
ing fire of the two companies of tirailleurs, posted on
the north-western outskirts of the Allemant wood,

affair was successfully over» The order is to be found duly entered in
the records of the division." But would it have been strange if
Humbert» advised of the German retreat and knowing that Monde-
ment would have fallen of itself in due course» had decided to counter-
mand the attack i That, at least, is how we interpret the decision
which has been attributed to him»

1 Except for a dozen men, who were taken prisoners, and two
machine-guns*
H

ii4 Foch at the Marne

and of the company of zouaves whose machine-guns
swept the Reuves road* At seven o'clock in the even-
ing the last convulsions of the struggle ceased : the
silence round Mondement was broken only by the
groans of the dying, the cries of the wounded* In the
great Louis XV* salon, under the colours of the 77th,
Colonel Lestoquoi had gathered his officers together
to mourn the losses of the regiment and to acclaim its
victory* He summed up the situation with true mili-
tary brevity in a laconic dispatch he sent to the
commander of the Morocco division :

44 1 hold the village and castle of Mondement* I
remain there overnight/'

By a curious coincidence» the 77th infantry regi-
ment, which had given further proof on this day of its
marvellous qualities of endurance and activity* had in
front of it the 77th Prussian infantry, as well as units of
the 164th Hanovers* And truly the carnage around
the castle was great* 1

1 The steward of the castle reported " that whole battalions were
annihilated* In the park alone nearly 3000 German dead were counted,
two generals among them/' (P* Fabreguettes, op* eft*) Elie C ♦ ♦ ♦
says only that " many German dead lay stretched about the walks* the
kitchen garden and the park of the castle/' (See Appendix.) M.
Gabriel Faure in his noble and pathetic Paysages de Guerre, speaks
also of a salon in the castle* " where two officers* killed by the ex*
plosion of one of our shells, remained in the positions in which death
had surprised them, the one sitting at the piano, the other playing the
violin/' The incident did occur, but not at Mondement According
to M. Troclot, a merchant of Sezanne, and an eye-witness, it happened
at Reclus, in the farm of the old abbey, where the enemy had left
twenty of his own wounded and five or six wounded Frenchmen under
the charge of a nurse.

The 9th of September 115

The wheeling movement of von Bûlow's front had
already commenced : the order to retreat had been
received by the various units about five o'clock* 1 It
was only a strong rearguard which had defended die
castle* 2

1 Too soon for the neighbouring units of the Xth corps and the
Morocco division* " During the whole day/' wrote Lieutenant Alouis
in his Journal» " I saw distinctly through my field-glasses the far-
distant roads towards the north-east black with columns of all arms,
which moved away ceaselessly into the distance* This splendid objec-
tive was unfortunately out of range (eight to ten kilometres)* I only
succeeded in reaching isolated motor lorries and bodies of cavalry/'

* Peace has at last descended on Mandement* Two springs and
two summers have sufficed for the kindly hand of Nature to efface
from the countryside the wounds laid open by the war* But the
skeleton of the castle remains* It raises its tragic memories high above
the marshes* At night a light gleams forth from it as of old* In the
eastern tower* unroofed and three-quarters demolished* the steward
still lights the " flare " of Mondement every night — a simple lamp
with a steady flame* visible from all points of the horizon* From time
immemorial* till September 5, 1914, this lamp was lighted regularly
by the goodwill of the lords of the castle» to allow belated travellers tô
see their way in safety across the winding paths of this treacherous
district* But* like the funereal lights which used to shine in the Middle
Ages in the " lanterns of the dead»" the " flare " of Mondement now
illumines nothing but graves* In the little village cemetery round the
unfortunate church, of which a pious hand has patched the roof pierced
by many shells» at great personal risk» the remains of some of the great
protagonists of the drama lie in separate graves : Major de Beaufort,
Captain Jean de Secondât-Montesquieu» Chief-Surgeon Baur» Second-
Lieutenant Noël» Lieutenant Parpaillon» Sergeant Atlé» and many
others less famous» though doubtless no less worthy of honour* The
tirailleurs of Morocco lie under white tombstones on the edge of the
plateau ; our metropolitan troops» in front of the garden wall» in a
meadow beside the Broyés road* Zouaves and foot soldiers fraternise
in death» as they fraternised in the struggle and in the victory* There
are no names over these graves* A cross» a few flowers» the tricoloured

1 1 6 Foch at the Marne

Be that as it may, the capture of Mondement and of
its steep slopes at seven o'clock in the evening was a
crowning glory to the fine success obtained on our left
by General Defforges and the Xth corps* There also,
over the whole front, Charleville — Corfélix — Le
Thoult, the Xth corps (put at the disposal of General
Foch by Franchet d'Espérey to " fill up the gap "
which the departure of the 42nd division had caused)
made but slow progress at first towards Bannay,
which had been determined as its objective. But
the Germans had not reoccupied Soisy, firmly held
by the 162nd regiment and the chasseurs under
Major Clavel, who expected to debouch towards the
Petit-Morin at dawn* The moral of these valiant
troops had never been so high* They had been annoyed
at the news of their transfer to another part of the
battlefield* That order had been brought towards
five o'clock in the morning by Staff-Captain Cannone*

" They send us away just when we are holding the
enemy ! ff cried the men with tears of rage*

But the truth was that from Soisy to Clos-le-Roi,
the most easterly point of the forest of Gault, the
German front formed a ring of iron round la Ville-
neuve - lès - Charleville, a ring which we had not
yet succeeded in breaking* Moreover, the fall of
Mondement had straightened out the salient which

cockade of the Souvenir français, and, on a black ground in letters of
gold, these beautiful lines of Henri Régnier :

Mais tandis que montait au del avec fureur

La sinistre, farouche et barbare clameur,

Se mêlait» en réponse à cette voix haineuse,

La chanson d'Aisne-et-Marne au chant de Sambre-et-Meuse* * « «

The 9th of September" 117

we had thrust into the enemy's lines to the north of
Saint-Gond, and assured him free communication
over the marshes* The situation of the Xth corps
might have been very critical if Franchet dTïspérey —
whose brilliant and decisive part in the battle has never
been sufficiently recognised — advised of the resistance
encountered by DefEbrges, had not ordered his ist
corps, which commanded the plateau of Vauchamp,
to proceed towards the south-east, attacking the ex-
tremity of the enemy's line towards Baye and Ville-
venard. Von Bfilow, who had already lost Montmirail
that morning, saw himself threatened in the rear by
this attack, and may already have thought of retiring*
It was at this moment, about one o'clock in the after-
noon — according to a letter from General Anthoine to
the Bishop of Chalons — that Abbé Laplaige, the good
Curé of la Villeneuve-lès-Charleville, who had stayed
beside his flock during the whole of the battle, " see-
ing an artillery reconnaissance pass through the village,
went up to the lieutenant-colonel 1 and offered to give
him information as to the enemy's positions* Abbé
Laplaige led the colonel up to the skylight of a granary,
and from this height pointed out to him with absolute
precision the enemy batteries, as well as an important
centre of communications, a point through which the
German troops were obliged to pass in their retreat/' a

1 Lieutenant-Colonel de Gensac, of the 50th artillery regiment of
Rennes*

* Prom a letter of February 29, 1916. General Anthoine added
incidentally, " The lieutenant-colonel of artillery, who put his newly
gained information to good use, finished his account of the affair by
saying that it seemed to him ' only just to acknowledge the conduct

1 1 8 Foch at the Marne

The most dangerous of these batteries — six 105 mm.
guns, which swept the whole plateau and arrested the
progress of our troops — was defiled to the right of the
road from Thoult-Trosnay to Fromentières, in the
district known as la Briquetrie* 1 Caught by the fire of
our 75's, 2 crushed to pieces with their gunners, the
batteries ceased to exist : the road was free for our
troops ; they carried Corf élix with a rush, and went on
towards Talus*

of the brave Curé, who, after all, risked being shot without question,
if a return offensive had put the Germans again in possession of la
Villeneuve/ The information furnished by the Abbé was of great
value to our artillery, and I feel sure that the thanks to which he is
undoubtedly entitled would have much higher value for him if con-
veyed to him by Your Highness."

There is a slight mistake in General Anthoine's letter* Lieutenant-
Colonel Gensac's observation point was not a granary, but the ladder
of a reservoir at the extreme end of the village* " In the evening, at
nightfall," we are told by one of the principal actors in the affair,
" our 75 mm. guns fired to the full extent of their range on the village
of Baye, eight kilometres to the north* That stirred up the Germans,
who were about to have a meal, and were congregated round their
field-kitchens, the officers' tables being near by." The effect of the
firing was seen by the French next day in their advance to have
been terrible, and this view was confirmed by the inhabitants*

1 A distinguished correspondent, M* Merlin, Counsellor-General of

the Canton of Montmirail, tells us that the batteries were emplaced

along the road which crosses from la Mortière to Bannay* " I can tell

you the position exactly," he writes : " the gunners who served it are

. buried at the very place where the battery was destroyed*"

1 " This war is above all a war of positions, that is, of finding out
the positions of the enemy : in the case of two batteries, the first very
powerful but not knowing the position of the second ; it is the second,
even though more feeble, which wins the day, if it has discovered the
position of the first*" (Charles Nordmann in the Matin of November
18, 1915.)

The 9th of September 119

The enemy had staggered under the blow* But he
continued to persist on our right, where von Hansen,
with great masses of troops, had advanced as far as
Gourgançon, the Guard as far as Connantre» 1 In fact,
towards nine o'clock in the morning, the 21st division
had been obliged to relinquish the positions so hardly
won the day before, positions which it had defended
with extraordinary fury» Thrown back from Œuvy,
Radiguet re-formed his forces to the south of Corroy,
on Hill 129, and attempted to hold on there, but he
had now only the skeleton of a division ; * the Saxon

1 They arrived about one o'clock, " forty-four years to the day since
the entry they had made in '70/' as Férat the agent remarked» Our
troops had been held up for some time half-way to Fere, notably in
front of the farm of Saint-Georges, where the 23rd company of the
390th had a furious encounter, in the course of which Lieutenant
Beugnet was killed. The Saxons arrived about die same time at Gour-
gançon, which they had bombarded since ten o'clock* The curé,
M* Deniset, was wounded in his cellar by the explosion of a shell*
44 Most of the fighting took place at Mont-Martin, to the north of the
Maurienne about 1200 metres from here/' said one of the country
police* " Most of the dead were found there* The struggle was very
sanguinary* One sergeant killed nine Germans at the entrance to the
village : his men deserted him, and he took cover alone behind a hedge
and fired until he himself was killed/' The Saxon troops who occupied
Gourgançon belonged for the most part to the 102nd, 104th, zo6th,
107th, and 133rd infantry regiments, active and reserve, and to the
13th chasseurs : only three or four of the eighty-five Germans buried
in the territory of this commune belonged to the Grenadiers of the
Guard ; at Connantre, on the contrary, the fifty-nine Germans buried
there all belonged to the zst, 2nd, 3rd and 4th regiments of the Guard
and to the 1st Grenadiers. The cemetery contains also the graves of
three French officers, Lieutenants Gayot of the 3rd Engineers, Riche
and Lebé of the 125th infantry regiment*

* " My regiments fought admirably," he wrote from Corroy at 9*50,
" but they were reduced on an average to four or five officers*"

I20 Foch at the Marrie

troops manoeuvred behind a screen of heavy artillery,
which cleared the ground in front of them, pulveris-
ing all resistance : from Corroy, Radiguet was obliged
to descend on Fresnay, then on Faux, and Moussy's
division, drawing back its right little by little to guard
the contact of the two forces, found itself constrained
to a similar movement* Some of Moussy's units, like
the 135th, had lost two-thirds of their original strength ;
the 103rd brigade (Colonel Doursoult), which ex-
tended from Moussy's division towards Morains, and
the 104th brigade of the Battesti division (Lieutenant-
Colonel Claudon), which defended the northern slopes
of Mont-Août, had suffered no less from the terrible
high-angle fire which the enemy directed on them
from Toulon* A feeble bulwark in truth, this mere
handful of effectives, to oppose the tide which flowed
towards it from three sides, and threatened to blockade
it on its island ! The 103rd brigade, the most exposed,
was the first to give way*

44 On to the vast plain which extends from the foot
of Mont-Août, " writes a military witness of the scene, 1
44 the French debouched from the wood, at first by
twos and threes, and then in dense masses* They were
beating a retreat towards the west* Cavalry tearing
along at a furious gallop, spurring on their horses ;
ammunition waggons flying past over the ruts, their
drivers crouching low over their teams, urging them
pn with hurried blows* Grey uniforms came running
out of the woods in skirmishing order, and, throwing
themselves down, joined their salvos to the volleys of

1 Cf. Henri Libermann, op* at.

The gth of September 121

our own men» From the north, from the east, from the
south, German guns levelled on the plain, spat forth
their shells, covering the plain with heaps of shrapnel,
ploughing it up with the ugly black hollows of their
heavy shells» A tremendous fusillade caught the
trendies of the chasseurs in the rear* ♦ ♦ ,"

To escape being totally surrounded* the 104th
brigade in its turn broke off the struggle» and retreated
in fairly good order towards Saint-Loup» Moussy
alone held on to the eastern slopes of Mont-Août»
But he had no troops there save his 135th regiment»
reduced to 1200 men» And the Prussian Guards were
upon him 1

They carried the slopes and threw the 135th back on
Sainte-Sophie» but this gallant regiment only fell back
on the left in order to counter-attack on the right»
Definitely broken in this heroic charge» in which it
lost its commander» Lieutenant-Colonel Graux» Majors
Pons and Noblet» and nearly all its officers» the regi-
ment halted» wheeled round» and streamed back
towards the south» Moussy» now uncovered on both
flanks» could no longer hold the front which Dubois
had hastily improvised for him with units of the
52nd division» gathered together along the roads :
he therefore drew back the 33rd brigade» but kept his
artillery in action on the ridge of Mont-Chalmont»
threw the 68th regiment into the wood of Hill 144»
the 90th into that of Sainte-Sophie» and on this chance
position made one last effort*

It was half-past four in the afternoon» The 42nd
division was expected every moment — it should have

12 2 Foch at the Marne

arrived at midday, then at two o'clock, then at four —
and it had not yet turned up* What had happened to
iti Why had irnot arrived i Had it changed its objec-
tive en route { Had it gone to the help of Humbert
instead of descending on Pleurs i It alone could save
the army, which seemed otherwise past all possibility
of help, save by divine intervention — which every new
effort of the enemy threatened with total annihilation,
and which Foch sought to inspirit by optimistic bul-
letins, appeals to the energy of the race, communi-
cations as to the progress — alas ! how slow ! — of
Grossetti* 1 All this great broken force, already at
its last gasp, anxiously awaited the arrival of the 42nd
division, longed for it, implored that it might yet be in
time» Foch sent messenger after messenger ; Moussy
detached two squadrons of the 7th hussars to ride out
to meet it» A dreadful agony of suspense hung over all»
It was comparable to that of Constantine, crushed by
Maxentius, lifting his eyes to the heavens imploring
their aid ; to Clovis invoking the God of Clotilda ;
to Roland sounding his horn ; to Napoleon listening
eagerly for Grouchy, and hearing instead the approach-
ing steps of Blucher»

1 This " slowness " is easily explained» The force was not relieved
till eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and the 151st was not able to rally its
troops till about one o'clock in the afternoon. The 162nd, nearer at
hand» had commenced the movement and advanced in the direction
Broyes-Péas-Saint-Loup, in shelter of the crest of the Hill of Alternant
and of the Signal de Chalmont ; the 151st followed, the 83rd brigade
was in the second line, leaving the 18th battalion of chasseurs to support
the Morocco division; the movement was preceded by the zoth
regiment of mounted chasseurs*

The 9th of September 123

The fate of the army seemed decided : two
divisions were cut off from the main army, and von
Hausen was driving them like dead leaves before him»
Already enemy forces had been able to filter through
by the Vaure valley : they pushed on towards Pleurs,
towards Salon* ♦ ♦ ♦

A happy, perhaps even a decisive moment for our
adversaries, had the other corps of the Second and Third
German Armies been able to follow up the move-
ment, had the advance been made all along the
line* But von Bulow, after his precarious success at
Mondement, refused to move again, as if wedged in by
his conquest, 1 and our Fourth Army, which had fallen
back on the 8th before Saxon divisions, was fighting
actively on the 9th towards Ormet, les Fenus and la
Folie. Moreover, de TEspée's forces remained intact,
although he had been obliged to abandon Mailly
according to orders, to preserve the alignment, after
having held on to that position during the whole of
the 8th and the morning of the 9th with his cyclists
and dragoons. The wedge which von Hausen and the
Guards drove into the hinge of the French armies,
exposed the German forces to dangerous lateral
movements : ill-protected towards Humbauville, von

1 " The enemy no longer shows any activity* His heavy artillery
seems dead ; the attack on Mondement was arrested after the fall of
the castle* This arrest, which is still unexplained, after the furious
attacks and bombardments of the previous day, was an inexpressible
relief to us* Why did the enemy not continue to fire ? Why did he not
attack i In consequence* they say* of the success obtained by the army
on our left. A vague explanation* with which, however, we must be
content*" (Lieutenant Alouis' Journal*)

124 Foçh at the Marne

Hausen in particular uncovered his right flank com-
pletely to our attack, which fell on it like a thunderbolt
from the moment when Foch had the 42nd division
at his disposal*

At last the 42nd arrived ; it swept down the slopes,
Grossetti at its head on horseback, a terrible and
magnificent figure against the golden background of
the setting sun, a very God of Battles* 1 An enemy
aeroplane flew over from the direction of Broyés : at
Saint-Loup it darted like a bird towards its own lines»
Did it hasten to warn the enemy to fall back instantly,
that in retreat alone could he escape disaster? The
moment had at last come for the former professor of
the École de Guerre to apply his principle : " If by any
fortunate chance, any happy inspiration, we catch a
glimpse of a fissure in the edifice, or a point of inade-
quate resistance, and if, by a particular combination of
forces, we can add to the regular and methodical action
of a flood the sudden blow of a battering-ram, capable
of breaking down the edifice at one point — the equili-
brium is broken : the mass hurls itself as speedily as
possible through the breach, and carries every obstacle
before it." *

The " fissure " was there : in order to break the
fragile scaffolding of the German combinations, Foch
had only to level against the desired point the blow of the

1 Libermann, op. cit. : " The sun, sinking fast, reddened the
western sky in one last embrace ; its last rays tit on General Grossetti,
on horseback in the midst of his staff* Everything was subordinated
to that great central figure. Immovable as an equestrian statue, he was
the incarnation of triumph, the typification of victory/'

* Principes de Guerre, chapter x* p. 280* '

The 9th of September 125

battering-ram, that was in this case the 42nd division :
the whole force could then follow through the breach;

The order for a general offensive is given» The call
to arms is sounded: some regiments have neither
colonel nor superior officer ; l companies are com-
manded by sergeants; a magnetic redressing takes
place all along the line ; nothing more remains to be
done ; the whole division feels itself supported as if
by some interior power, carried forward irresistibly as
if on some mighty wave* Marvellous buoyancy of the
French spirit 1

Without losing a minute, Dubois, as soon as he was
informed of the arrival of units from the head of
Grossetti's division (which was to counter-attack in
the direction of Connantre-Œuvy, seconded by all
available units of the DCth and Xlth army corps),
changed his own dispositions to fall in with the new
order ; the 104th brigade held on firmly to the Heights
of Chalmont, supported by all the artillery of the 17th
division and that of the 52nd " not employed towards
the north/' All available units of the 17th division
were to attack at the Noset farm and at Morains-le-
Petit ; the 103rd brigade was to attack the farm of
Sainte-Sophie and Plateau 166, in liaison with the 17th
and with Grossetti's division* . . .

At six o'clock in the evening, supported by three
brigades of artillery, the 42nd division hurled itself in

1 " I found the 135th crippled : neither colonel nor any superior
officer ; and I sent it forward nevertheless 1 " (General Mouss/s
Journal of the Campaign»)

1 2 6 Foch at the Marne

articular formation from the front Linthcs-Linthcllcs
towards the hollow of Œuvy, of which its mounted
patrols had previously reconnoitred the approaches*

At eight o'clock, two other brigades under Colonel
Boichut concentrated their fire on the further side of
Connantre, where the railway line branched off
towards F ère - Champenoise and commanded the
entrance to that village, relegated to Moussy as his
objective* The main body of the 42nd division halted
and bivouacked at Pleurs and the neighbouring woods*
But Colonel Simon with the 33rd brigade (three
battalions of the 90th, two battalions of the 68th and
half a squadron of the 7th hussars) continued the
pursuit as far as Nozet, Puits and Morains-le-Petit*
Such was the activity of this force, that after half-an-
hour's halt at Noset, to let the men have some food, the
Colonel decided to march on right through the night,
without taking precautions lest he should lose touch
with the 103rd brigade, which only progressed slowly
towards the farm of Sainte-Sophie. Moussy, who did
not learn till two o'clock in the morning of this tottr-
de-force of his brigadier (the messenger sent to him
by Colonel Simon had lost his way in the night),
at once hurried up with his reserves towards Fère-
Champenoise, to support the 33rd brigade*

He entered F ère at five o'clock without a shot having
been fired. At the same hour the 42nd division entered
Connantre, also practically without resistance/ and it

1 The castle itself resisted for a brief space, but the garrison sur-
rendered at once on the promise that the lives of the men should be
spared* By way of precaution, it was stipulated that they should come

The 9th of September 127

appeared — as at Mondemcnt before the 77th, as at
Gourgançon before Eydoux, as at Fère itself before
Moussy — that the enemy had only left a curtain of
troops, a mere façade of effectives : the alarm given
by the aeroplane had been heard*

On the evening of the 8th, according to Abbé Néret,
and on the afternoon of the 9th, according to an eye-
witness, M* Bonnemain, 1 Fère-Champenoise was trans-
formed into a fair : the reserves of the Guard, who had
been in cantonments up till then in the suburbs of Con-
nantre, spread all over the town towards three o'clock*
And as practice for their subsequent operations, they
pillaged several houses on the way» After that, it was
methodical and organised pillage ; only the houses
and shops without men folk were robbed» Later on,
orgies were arranged» Before the Hôtel de Paris, a
piano was carried out into the street : music was
struck up in front of the church, the audience " seated
on benches and ammunition waggons/' Champagne
gushed forth in streams» The officers lolled in basket

out one by one* " The manoeuvre/ 9 said Lieutenant Libermann, " was
effected in good order» At regular intervals the Prussians came out
and laid down their rifles. In a neighbouring pathway they were lined
up two deep : the chasseurs took them in charge with fixed bayonets*
The officer came last : ' Here is my pistol* You are stronger than we
to-day, and we give in» To-morrow, perhaps, you will have to submit
in your turn to the supreme humiliation* That is my hope. Ober-
leutnant Schwartz of the 4th Grenadiers of the Guard/ " Counting
all together, wounded and unwounded, IL Libermann estimates the
number of prisoners taken at Connantre at 500 men of the 1st, and
and 4th Grenadiers of the Guard.

1 But it is possible that though the orgy commenced on the 8th, it
may have been continued on the 9th.

12 8 Foch at the Marne

chairs on the pavement; their tunics unbuttoned,
cigars between their lips, they surveyed the scene com-
placently through their monocles. This drunken mob
had almost the appearance of a Hottentot masquerade,
for a neighbouring chapel had been robbed, and the
vandals returned with fantastic coverings on their
heads» They drank and ate greedily, they danced, they
shouted barbarous songs to the glory of the Fatherland*
What festival, after all, was being celebrated in this
orgy of the flesh-pots i A wounded French soldier
was taken past in a handbarrow : the Germans hooted
him* 1 Sword-belts unbuckled, haversacks thrown
down in heaps, rifles stacked against the walls — every-
thing bore witness to the absolute security in which
these scoundrels believed themselves to be.

But suddenly, towards five o'clock, a mounted officer
galloped up. He shouted an order in a stentorian
voice. It was an order of retreat I The men threw on
their kit, snatched their rifles ; the officers demanded
the way to Sommesous, to Morains, to Écury-le-Repos
from the stupefied inhabitants. Everything was done
at express speed, in good order, but without fifes. , By
six o'clock in the evening there was not a single German
in the town, save for a few drunkards who snored in
the cellars. 8

1 This incident was reported by VL Larcher, the proprietor of the
Hôtel de Paris.

1 But the roads, the fields, the woods round Fere were strewn with
German dead, belonging, for the most part, to regiments of the Guard,
of the Katserin Augusta and the Kaiser Franz» And the wounded
swelled the number of the drunkards taken in the cellars» Altogether,
about 1500 prisoners were taken, a sufficiently imposing number*

The Entrance to the Priory of St. Gond

The 9th of September 129

It was not till the next day, at five o'clock in the
morning, that the French re-entered Fere» 1 By that
time the main part of von Bulow's army had long
since recrossed the marshes*

1 Colonel Simon arrived at three o'clock, but he only touched the hill
at the station and pushed straight on to Morains-le-Petit, where other
troops joined him later* At five o'clock the rest of the 17th division
reached Fere, where Dubois had sent on his main force, and where
Foch at midnight set up his headquarters*

130 Foch at the Marne

VI

THE DAWN OF VICTORY

There was a current report that Moussy, the future
hero of Ypres, had routed the Guard in the Marshes of
Saint-Gond, with a division of the IXth corps. His-
torians have repeated that report* Strictly speaking,
he would not have had an impossible task* From
Broyés and from Mont-Chalmont, our 75's held the
seven roads across the marshes under their fire, roads
so straight, so geometrical, that they could be enfiladed
right across from one side of the marshes to the other»
Over nearly the whole extent of these roads, it was im-
possible for the Germans to step aside one yard tp the
right or to the left under pain of being sucked into the
marshes» If our artillery had been in action, the Ger-
mans would have had to choose between being wiped
out by shell-fire or being swallowed up by the marshes»
Why did our artillery not intervene i Did it lack shells,
as has been supposed, at the last moment i Our aero-
planes, which had been so active in furnishing informa-
tion during the battle — had they failed in some way
towards the end i x

1 It was the air service, on the contrary, which informed us at 5*30
of the German retreat, though it had been begun sooner by a part o»
von Buiow's army» The Memento paroissial of Vertus informs us
that towards two o'clock on the 9th a French aeroplane passed over
between Bergères and Vertus : " It was Brindejonc of the Moulinais

1

The Dawn of Victory 131

The explanation is even more simple* What happened
to Manoury's army had happened also to the Ninth
Army* It is known that the Sixth Army, on the morning
of September 10th, at the moment when it was about
to recommence the offensive on its extreme left, found,
according to M* Roland, " hardly any troops left in
front of it*" During the preceding night the enemy had
fled, noiselessly, towards the north, east of the Ourcq*
covering its retreat by strong rearguards* It acted in
exactly the same way as von Bulow's army had done*
as part of von Hausen's army had done* " On the even-
ing of the 9th," writes Second-Lieutenant M * * ** 1
" we were at Linthes* and I was put on guard with my
company to cover the arrival of the 42nd division,
which was hurrying to our aid* It was high time* The
next day the various companies pushed forward, when*
to our great surprise* we found that the Germans were
no longer there* That was at ten o'clock in the morn-
ing*" Before Mondement and before Saint-Prix the
enemy lines were cleared* Till the morning of the
10th, they had been filled by bodies of troops whose
deep voices had disturbed the silence of the night* The

who prepared a masterstroke against the enemy encampments ; his
projectiles killed a dozen men and about forty horses* The enemy
fired on him at once, but did not hit the brave pilot, who regained his
own lines to the south/ 9 (See Appendix, extract from Brindejonc's
Journal de bord.)

1 From the Courrier de Sezanne of September xo, 1915* See also
Henri Libermann, op. ciU : " It is empty space, vast empty space» But
one stumbles over dead bodies, one remembers with a start the
tragedies, forgotten for a moment* Not a shot is heard, not an enemy

* ♦ ♦ ♦

132 Foch at the Marne

inhabitants from their cellars did not know what to
make of this move* " Troops are passing/' wrote
M* Roland» " Are they going or are they coming i No
one knows* The walls of the Castle of Mondement are
blazing* A house near Broussy is on fire ; the sky is
red with the glow of incendiary fires» at Villeneuve, at
Royes, at Reuves and so on* The French guns still
fire occasionally, but at ever lengthening intervals, then
everything falls back into the silence of the night* * * *
The next day, at half-past five in the morning* in full
daylight* the same silence still reigns/'

And seeing that the silence really continues* our
troglodytes finally think they may venture to have a
look round outside* They find the little cowherd who
has brought their food every morning* They question
him eagerly : the child assures them that there are no
longer any " Boches " in sight* The battle is finished*
Upon which* these cave-dwellers leave their hiding-
holes and descend* like a file of Indians* through the
vineyards towards the village* But at the corner of the
Grands-Puits road they come suddenly upon " a band
of Germans who are going up in silence towards
Congy ; " their leader* " who has a drum on his back
and a Red-Cross brassard on his arm/' asks M* Roland
in good French where the 104th German infantry regi-
ment is to be found* M* Roland replies that the 164th
is stationed in the village* " Not now," replies the
Boche, who continues on his way without further
remark*

These were the last stragglers of the Xth corps of
von Bûlow's army, the outposts perhaps and the dis-

The Dawn of Victory 133

abled, whom it had not been possible to inform as to
the hour of the retreat, so hastily arranged* 1

Five minutes later, a troop of French cuirassiers
entered the village* The populace acclaimed them as
the first radiant messengers of victory* Seated erect on
their saddles* their horses' manes flowing* they drew
rein* powdered by the yellow dust of the Oyes road. M*
Roland told them of the meeting with the German
stragglers*

" If you had only arrived five minutes sooner/' he
said* " you would have caught them*"

" We will catch them yet/' they replied* and they
spurred on*

1 A French civilian* M. Prévost» secretary to the Mairie of Fere,
whom the Germans took away with them, told us that in spite of his
advanced years he was forced to walk forty kilometres in the direction
of Aulnizetix on the night of the 9th, The arrest of M. Prévost has
given rise to many fables* One journal of the Marne district reported
that some German staff-officers were about to occupy the Hôtel de
Ville. " Suddenly they became immovable, thunderstruck. Before
them* his face wreathed in smiles, stood an august personage* M.
Prévost, who resembles M. Poincaré in a most striking way* feature
for feature. Without making any further inquiries* the officers tele-
graphed and telephoned in all directions. The Crown Prince himself
was told of the capture. The error was not found out till later* but the
unfortunate secretary paid for it with his liberty/' The real facts are
totally different. M. Prévost told us himself that he was arrested
simply because two clocks in the town, one in the afternoon» and one
during the night, were heard to strike. The Germans, always sus-
picious* thought they saw a signal in that* and arrested M. Prévost,
who, taken first to Cassel, then to the Castle of Hassenberg (Saxe-
Coburg), was not set at liberty till March 34, 1915* During the battle
and afterwards* he was obliged to accompany the Prussian troops on
foot, exposed to the same fire, and forced* without regard for his grey
1 hairs* to the same formidable marches*

134 Foch at the Marne

But nearly everywhere the enemy was a march in
advance of us, and his rearguards were strongly sup-
ported» At the two extremities of the marshes, at
Morains-le-Petit, which the 33rd brigade reached
towards 5*30 x on the morning of the 10th, by way of
Noset, 8 Puits, and the Heights of F ère, and at Saint-
Prix, where the Morocco division was engaged nearly
at the same time, the enemy had decamped incon-
tinently* At Morains it was because he was taken un-
awares, assailed suddenly by Colonel Simon, who, in
the excitement of the pursuit, forgetting that the rest
of the 17th division was some distance away, had
flung his forces on the enemy and driven in his lines.
The Germans flew before the great cavalry swords of
the 7th hussars, which had been thrown on their
heels, led by Captain Thomassin» At Saint-Prix they

1 " We pushed on to Morains-le-Petit, where the 68th and the 90th
arrived at 5*30/' (General Moussy's Journal.)

1 " Wednesday, September 9 (evening). The 90th and 68th reached
Nozet in advance/' (General Moussy's Journal.)

The 33rd brigade had left without waiting to be revictualled, so
eager was it to catch up the enemy. The 33rd had the honour of being
the first of our forces to renew contact with enemy forces. It happened
at midnight» at Nozet, after the surrounding woods had been searched
with the bayonet. Nothing now remained of the farm but some
charred walls. " In the cellar/' writes the soldier, Eue C . . ., " we
found several dead Germans, one, quite naked, seated on a barrel. We
supposed it to be the body of an officer, for, according to current
rumour, the German soldiers had been ordered to remove the uniforms
of any of their officers found dead drunk, no doubt in order to save the
honour of the Prussian caste/'

It must be remembered that the 135th and a battalion of the 68th
had been held in reserve with Moussy and Colonel Genot near Linthes,
and were not aware till later of Colonel Simon's rapid progress towards
Morains.

The Dawn of Victory 135

had simply tried to block up the road by a barricade of
poplars, but instead of lying quietly across the road,
says Abbé Néret, " those great trees of France, as if
conscious of the part they were called on to play, fell
down on each side into the river, and our troops passed
on» Things did not go quite so well to the east of the
marshes, notably at Pierre-Morains and at Écury-le-
Repos, where the 347th battalion of the line hurled
itself about four o'clock in the afternoon on to a strong
Saxon rearguard, an attack in which three officers, one
of them the commanding officer, and 250 men were
killed. 1 A second attempt, early in the night, led by
Lieutenant-Colonel de Salins, with troops of the 103rd
brigade, cost the life of Captain d'Annoville, the
victim of a dastardly German ruse»* The 52nd division

1 " Towards four o'clock in the evening we arrived at Écûry-le-
Repos, where our regiment threw itself on a strong Saxon rearguard,
which, after killing one officer and fifty men, wounding the command-
ing officer, two captains and about two or three hundred men, prevented
us from passing on/' (Letter from Second-Lieutenant Firmin M ♦ . ♦
in the Courrier de Sezanne of September zo, 1915») See also General
Mouss/s Journal : " The 52nd could not take Écury* Unfruitful
action from 5 till 7.30 at Pierre-Morains (68th) and Écury (90th)»
Fell back on Morains* Slept on some straw in the station. Was cold,
very cold/ 9 And on the nth he says, " At Vertus, news of General
Leleu, who attacked Pierre-Morains at the same time as we did yester-
day, and who must have got some of our shells/'

* The Archives Cantonales of Vertus give this account of the deed s
" The 348th regiment of the 103rd brigade was ordered to attempt a
night attack on the trenches which surrounded the village* Major
Cody led the 6th battalion ; Captain d'Annoville left with the 5th»
The two sections were afterwards to unite* Towards nine o'clock
M. d'Annoville heard the sound of a column on the march, then a
voice asked in perfect French, ' Halt 1 Who goes there < ' Thinking
that he was facing his friends, the captain answered, ' France I Are

136

Foch at the Marne

was obliged to fall back on Morains-le-Petit ; the 33rd
brigade had already been reassembled in articular
formation, and the pursuit from this side was momen-
tarily suspended»

But in revenge, on the Maurienne and the Vaure,
where the magnificent 42nd division was in action,
hurled against the flank of von Hausen's army, nothing
was suffered to keep it back ; it pursued the enemy
closely as far as the Somme» The 84th brigade marched
at its head ; the 162nd followed the Linthes-F ère-
Champenoise road ; the 151st crossed* the fields in
the direction of Œuvy, which it left on its right ; the
83rd brigade was behind the 84th; the divisional
cavalry followed the itinerary Corroy-Connantray-
Lenharrée» The French were now entering on the
high fertile plain — the tomb of the Xlth corps» It
has been said that at the approach of the 42nd division
this immense charnel-house began to palpitate with
deep» hidden life» The sun shone out as though
it had heard the tramp of our troops» At the edge of
the wood» confused forms appeared out of the shadows
and rushed towards the soldiers, crying* " Help !
Water ! We have been here for three days I" They
were the wounded from the surprise attack of the 8th,
whom the enemy had not taken the trouble to carry
away» whom he had left to agonise in this desert, that

you the 6th battalion i * And the same voice answered, ' Advance ;
not all at once ; one at a time/ The captain did not hesitate ; he
went forward, crying, 4 Who goes there i * The voice replied, * France,
patrol/ At the same moment a volley of rifle shots rang out» The
captain, wounded in three places, fell dead» His men retreated under
an intense fusillade»"

The Dawn of Victory 137

the tortures of thirst might finish the work begun by
the machine-guns. The plain, as far as the eye could
see, was covered with dead bodies, fast decomposing*
On this warm September morning, dull, rainy, but
without a breath of wind, the smell was such that even
the strongest became sick» Boichut confessed that he
had felt mal-de-mer at Œuvy : Deville speaks of the
" Dantesque " impression he carried away from the
battlefield of Normée* Human remains were found
even right in among the trees*

But the delight of the survivors in learning of our
victory» their joy at seeing us again* at receiving our
help» our services* their eagerness to tell us sad but
splendid incidents of the surprise — all these gradually
dissipated the nightmare* The body of Colonel
Meniere was identified at the corner of a small wood :
a corporal of the 32nd, his leg broken* stopped Colonel
Deville before the body of another officer*

" Look* sir/' he said* " That is Major Humbert*
He fell* a bullet in his back* while trying to organise
the retreat : he asked me to turn him round towards
the north in order that he might have the honour of
dying with his face to the Germans* ♦ ♦ ♦"

Up till eleven o'clock in the forenoon* no other in-
cident had hindered the march of our troops* But a
German division of the Xllth reserve corps* whose
artillery was posted behind the Somme» suddenly laid
down a violent barrage on the edge of the wood* the
railway line, and the station of Normée* The 162nd
set out at once* led by Major Moisson and Colonel
Trouchaud ; the 151st went to Fontaine-d'Ivoire ;

\

138

Foch at the Marne

the Boutain battalion to support the 162nd ; the divi-
sional artillery in batteries towards Hill 172, two kilo-
metres from Connantray ; two brigades of the 46th
were posted before Normée, to the right and left of
the Fere road» Up till 3*30 it was not possible for our
troops to debouch. At that moment, persuaded that a
new concentration of his fire would enable him to
break the German resistance, Grossetti ordered the
42nd division to advance in three columns in the direc-
tion of Villeseneux-Soudrpn» He was soon obliged to
countermand this order. But the estafette charged
with carrying it to Colonel Deville was stopped on the
road : the 151st, conforming to the preceding order,
crossed the Somme at Lenharrée, which the enemy
had neglected to guard, and pushed across the wood
during the night to Villeseneux, while the columns of
Krien and Trouchaud were still immobilised before
Normée, the 60th reserve division before Sommesous»
The 151st had passed, without knowing it, between two
battles* When it did perceive what had happened, it
fell back* Rumour will have it that one of the Kaiser's
sons 1 was among the troops opposite the 151st, troops
who, thinking their rear was turned, hastened to
abandon the position* When morning came, Normée,
Villeseneux, and Soudron were evacuated* And the
pursuit was again taken up all along the line, extend-
ing to our flank-guard, which had been back in Mailly
with Sailly's brigade 2 since the evening of the 9th,

1 But is this not merely a legend, and does it not again concern the
ubiquitous Eitel < See the Appendix, The Surprise of ViUeseneax.

* It may appear that, contrary to what we have said above* Sailly's
brigade did not enter Mailly till the morning of the 10th, and contented

The Dawn of Victory 139

while Séréville's brigade, which had supported de
Langle's attack on Sompuis the evening before, re-
occupied its former positions» If, on the evening of
the 10th, de l'Espée had not pushed on further than
Poivres-Sainte-Suganne, it was because he was wait-
ing for Mitry's division, now placed under his com-
mand» Some hours were wasted there which might
have been better employed» Sommesous, Soudé-
Sainte-Croix were not yet cleared of the enemy» But
early on the morning of the nth, the 9th cavalry
division — with the exception of Sailly's brigade, which
de l'Espée had kept at Poivres — reassembled under
the command of General de Séréville, sounded the
44 boot-and-saddle," and rode off for that encircling
movement of forty-eight hours' duration, which was
carried out at one stretch, and which was to finish on
the 13th before Souain, after the capture of the bridges
of the Marne by the 5th cuirassiers» 1

itself the evening before with a demonstration» " AU the day/' we are
told, " we submitted to a cannonade of 150 mm» shells, more im-
pressive than efficacious, on the plateau of the Arbre-de-justice.
Towards three o'clock in the afternoon, enemy infantry came out from
Madly and drove us back three or four kilometres. An hour later, an
officer, Second-Lieutenant Fauquet of the 24th dragoons, carried
General Foch's order to General de l'Espée, commanding him to
resume the offensive* De l'Espée thereupon sent Sailly's brigade and
Hangouwart's battery forward to bombard Mailly at nightfall» Then
the whole division fell further back on Chêne, near Ards-sur-Aube,
and we did not return to Mailly till ten o'clock in the morning/'

1 Sommesous, which was attacked by the 60th reserve division,
being still in the hands of the enemy, Séréville directed his first efforts
on Soudé-Sainte-Croix. He drove out the enemy about ten o'clock,
which consequently freed Sommesous. (For an account of the capture
of the bridges of the Marne, see the Appendix»)

140 Foch at the Marne

However methodical the retreat of von Bulow's
army and the right wing of von Hausen's army had
been, it had not been possible to accomplish it with-
out enormous sacrifices both of men and material*
Not having had time to remove their dead and wounded,
who were already stretched out in long lines by the
roadside, the enemy had simply abandoned them» On
the road from Oyes to Villevenard they formed a long
funereal alley : in front of the Priory of Saint-Gond, a
young German had fallen just when he was attending
to his toilet ; his little pocket mirror was still lying
beside him*

Dead and wounded, ambulance units complete with
their sanitary sections, and, like that of Lenharrée,
" full of German soldiers, infantry, artillery, Imperial
Guard/' * broken-down batteries, ammunition wag-
gons torn off their wheels, artillery drag-ropes en-
tangled in the buttresses of the bridges, dumps of
ammunition, which there had been no time to carry
off, and an extraordinary collection of rifles, cartridge-
cases, cartridges, haversacks, field-dressings, packets
of letters, tins of jam, joints of meat, empty cham-
pagne bottles, and even parts of a cinematograph
apparatus — such, with the inevitable laggards which
an army in retreat invariably leaves behind it, was all
the booty of the first day* The following days were to
add to it in no small measure* It is also probable that

1 Four hundred and fifty men in all* (Letter of a French major
written from Connantray on the 14th and quoted by Abbé Néret»)
At Congy in the hospital at the castle there were nearly as many
wounded Germans ; at Baye they numbered more than 500.

The Dawn of Victory 141

in the course of the retreat the marshes swallowed up
some stragglers, but the marshes have kept their secret
to this day* . ?* yt

The Germans knew the marshes better than we did":
for years, under pretext of shooting wild duck or
supplying the farms with artificial fertilisers, their
spies had examined every inch of the ground» Some of
them even, disguised as shepherds, as cheese-makers,
as vendors of light carriages, agents for the little Caïffa
carts, had lived in the most intimate way with the in-
habitants» When war came they tore off the mask,
and took a malicious pleasure in making themselves
known to their dupes» 1

The Marshes of Saint-Gond — Tomb of the Prus-
sian Guard» The formula is arresting, no doubt, and
draws a striking picture for the man in the street» 9
But the reality is a hundred times finer than the legend»
That which was swallowed up in the marshes, which
has definitely foundered in that green grave, is more
than a few crack battalions — it is the prestige of the
German army and of its pretended invincibility»

At the edge of the plateau to which our troops held

1 See Appendix : The Spin*

* Is it necessary to add that nowhere, neither in the commamqaés nor
in the detailed report on the whole operations from August a to
December 4, 1914, is there the slightest allusion to this " swallowing
up " of the Prussian Guard i M. Babin, who may be described as a
historical probe, does not breathe a word about it : the authors of
La Guerre en Champagne only write from memory, and they write as
if of a legend which will not bear close examination» One could wish
to find the same discretion elsewhere»

142 Foch at the Marne

so valiantly in the Marne district there is, near Ester-
nay, a beautiful eighteenth-century castle which bears
the symbolic name of Réveillon* Was it this name,
was it this soil, so rich in history, was it the obscure
presentiment of future revenge, or was it perhaps all
these together which inspired the artist Détaille i

Whatever it may have been, " The Dream," the
most touching, the most popular of his pictures, was
painted at Réveillon during the summer of 1887. 1

Look at it closely — the sleeping soldiers, their arms
piled on a great bare plateau, the fires of the bivouac
slowly dying out* It is clearly the plateau of Cham-
pagne* But, far away on the horizon at the edge of the
plateau — is not the belt of mist mysteriously touched
by the first red streaks of dawn i

And without being too complaisant, is it not per-
missible to recognise the part played by these heroic
mists of the Marshes of Saint-Gond, from which —
thanks to the unshakable constancy of Foch, fighting
against the most famous troops of Germany — the
victory of the Marne rose up, and demanded a place
among the most glorious deeds in the history of France i

1 Défaille was the guest of another celebrated artist, Mme» Madeleine
Lemaire, whose daughter, Mile, Suzanne Lemaire, herself a dis-
tinguished painter, has kindly sent me these lines : " It was to a spot
between Villeneuve-la-Lionne and Joisille that Détaille asked to be
conducted every morning before dawn by our man, Joyeux, who
lighted a great bonfire for him there, in the light of which, according
to your touching idea, the first rough sketch of future victory was
drawn/'

APPENDIX

FURTHER
DETAILS OF THE GREAT BATTLE

The Aeroplane Incident at Petites-Loges
Colonel G ♦ ♦ /s Journal of the Campaign

Sept. 2. — At 8.30 a,m» I received the order prepara-
tory to the operation of Sept» 3» The troops are to be
ready by 3 a.m. ; the probable itinerary is : Nogent-
1'Abbesse, Prunay, Beaumont, Verzy, Villers-Mar-
mery, Condé-sur-Marne* The outposts of the advance-
guard battalion of the 68th and 90th (Goureau and
Conneau) will have fallen back before daylight to the
west of the woods, linking themselves towards Cali-
fornie with the advance-guards of the Xlth army
corps : the 68th to lead the march at the head of the
brigade*

Thursday t Sept. 3. — The departure of the 68th from
Nogent-l'Abbesse took place at 3*15 a*m», following
the itinerary indicated above ; the two battalions pre-
viously in the advance-guard now forming the rear-
guard* The 68th (Goureau) halted at Villers-Marmery,
made a half-wheel, and remained on advance-guard till
I relieved it by the 2nd battalion of the 68th (Major
Payerne) towards 3*30 a«m«, making a redisposition of
the troops* The Goureau battalion then entered
Vil^ers-Marmery, where it had prepared its canton-

143

144 Foch at the Marne

ments and advance guard ; the 3rd battalion (Major
Bardollet) of the 68th was quartered at the southern
egress of the village*

While this division was on the march along the
Beaumont- Verzy road, a German aeroplane, coming
from the south, flew over our troops at a low level
while they were halted at the roadside before entering
Verzy ; the 68th and neighbouring troops received it
with a brisk rifle-fire which pierced it in several places*
It fell into a vineyard a short distance away : cavalry
and mounted artillerymen, as well as foot soldiers, ran
towards the place where it had fallen, on the brow of
the hill towards Verzenay and Verzy, about one kilo-
metre north of Verzy* One of the aviators was dead,
hit by several bullets, the other, who was unwounded
and attempted to escape by running through the vine-
yards which covered the hill-side, was captured and
made prisoner* I afterwards met two men and a non-
commissioned officer of the 68th, driving him to the
divisional headquarters*

Shortly after three o'clock I received the following
order from Trepail, where the 33rd brigade was
quartered : " As the march has been carried out with-
out any cause for anxiety on the part of the rearguard»
and without the cavalry once sighting the enemy* the
general of the division has decided that the troops may
go into cantonments in rotation* with the exception
of * * * The outposts will be furnished by the 68th
infantry at Villers-Marmery* in the sector comprised
between the Verzy road (liaison from Verzy with
the Morocco division) and the Villers-Marmery

The IiKLFKV ok Rbuvm

Details of the Battle 145

road (liaison with the Xlth army corps at Petites*
Loges)/'

While I gave these orders to the outposts of the and
battalion of the 68th (Major Payerne), the chief-ôf-
staff of the 17th division, Major Jette, warned me to
hold Versy, unoccupied by the Morocco division, an
order to which I at once gave effect»

The 3rd battalion (Major Bardollet) furnished a
company to support the artillery brigade (Major
Bouderiou) stationed outside the village of Villers-
Marmery near the Trepail-Les Petites-Loges road;
another company was stationed at the edge of the wood
towards Les Petites-Loges (a wood of nearly 500 or
600 metres in extent, from the junction of the Trepail-
Villers and Trepail-Les Petites-Loges roads) ; the two
other companies were on guard at the south-eastern
approach to the village at Villers-

In order to ensure the liaison with the Xlth corps, I
sent an order to the commanding officer of the 3rd
battalion (Bardollet) to send a section without delay to
Les Petites-Loges»

About 6.55 a*m*, rifle shots were heard between Les
Petites-Loges and the wood mentioned above* where
Bardollet's gth company was stationed ; then a more
violent fusillade was heard ; it was the section sent
towards Les Petites-Loges, which, instead of finding
troops of the Xlth army corps, had encountered a
German patrol*

The two companies of the 3rd battalion, in canton-*
ments to the south-east of the village, drew closer
to those stationed in the wood : the 1st battalion,

146 Foch at the Marne

quartered in the centre of the village, had got the
alarm, and assembled silently in the fields outside the
village. not far from Hill 142 (north of the village)*

(There is often a comic side even to serious things»
While the remaining two companies of the 3rd bat-
talion defiled along the road to reinforce the company
already stationed in the wood, I, with my adjutant and
liaison officers, was in a ditch by the road-side* The
men as they passed did not see me : it was a night of
pitch darkness* Among the ranks I saw a donkey led
by a buffoon of a trooper* What was he going to do
with the donkey i I could not imagine* I cried to him
from my ditch to let the poor beast go* It was only
when I called for the second time that* recognising my
voice* he freed the donkey* which proceeded to feed
tranquilly by the edge of the road, not far from where J
was* nor from our horses* which were hidden behind
the slope of a little cross-road* Every time that our
horses moved and we kept the more rigid silence in
order not to divulge our whereabouts* this wretched
donkey began to bray with all his might* What between
my rage and my laughter* and the laughter of the
soldiers* one might have said that this sorry beast was
in connivance with the enemy to signal every one of our
movements* Finally* provoked beyond endurance, we
were obliged to drive him off with blows from the
side of a bayonet, of which he at last seemed to be
sensible*)

The section of the 9th company, sent towards Les
Petites-Loges, had fallen back on the wood, of which
the borders were strongly held with the support of

Details of the Battle 147

two other companies ; it had brought back two Saxon
prisoners*

Towards 11*20 everything was again quiet*

But at 1 1 45 a lively fusillade was heard from the
direction of the 9th company in the wood» a fusillade
which seemed gradually to extend right into the
village* The 9th company had a few slight casualties
at this time* one of them being Lieutenant Foujanet*
who was in command* The firing stopped suddenly :
in revenge* two solitary shells were fired by the enemy
on the southern extremity of the village* but without
result : the shells exploded beyond the last houses*

After that* nothing more happened for the rest of
the night*

Sept. 4* — At z*io a*m* I received orders from
brigade headquarters to fall back from 2*15 on Trepail*
Condé-sur-Marne, and beyond*

Vert-la-Gravelle during the Invasion

Extract made by G* Voilier eau from the ** Archives

Cantonales " of Vertus

On Friday* Sept* 4* the 10th chasseurs were quar-
tered at Vert-la-Gravelle* During the whole of Friday
night there was a pathetic exodus of emigrants, which
caused a panic to spread all through the district* They
were fleeing from the German hordes which were
advancing by forced marches : rumours of their deeds
and acts were rife* and were all calculated to cause

148 Foch at the Marne

alarm* There was certainly some truth in them, but
when imagination once steps in, where will it stop i

On Saturday, the 5th, the inhabitants of Vert also
decided to take refuge in flight, so much so that by
one o'clock in the afternoon there were only about
thirty people left in the village including some
emigrants, who had decided not to pursue their melan-
choly pilgrimage any further.

The chasseurs were still here, and a company of
infantry was posted outside the village on the cross-
road from Loisy-en-Brie» Only a few stray rifle shots
were heard from time to time» The Boches were
already at Loisy, where they were supplying themselves
with food at the expense of the inhabitants»

Towards four o'clock a German patrol of Death's
Head Hussars arrived» In a few minutes they had
overrun the chief street, but on a whistle from their
lieutenant they turned round and set out on their
return along the Vertus road» Some French soldiers,
hidden in the ditches near the Gravelle, stopped the
patrol at the crossing of that stream and killed two
Germans ; on seeing which the German officer,
addressing some of the natives of Vert, said to them in
good French, " Sirs, do not be alarmed, you can stay
here ; we make war against soldiers, not against
civilians» ♦ ♦ ♦ " But we could not help seeing that
the farm of Petit-Etréchy was already on fire»

At seven o'clock in the evening the German bat-
teries emplaced behind the Charmont wood threw
several shells on Pierre-Morains and Coligny» These
incendiary shells set the two villages on fire ; there

Details of the Battle 149

were twenty houses burning in Pierre-Morains and
three or four in Coligny*

Towards eight o'clock a company of the 135th in-
fantry of Angers arrived by the Toulon road and
charged in silence on the Gravelle, where an advanced
German battery was empiaced* Thanks to the dark-
ness of the night, the Germans, surprised, could only
fire a few shots, and the gun fell into the hands of our
men* The German officer and his men were killed*
They were buried by their comrades in the deep
waters of the Grave lie* In this first attack many
French soldiers were left dead on the battle-field.

In the meantime the rest of the 135th arrived at
Vert ; they remained there for the night, keeping a
keen look-out* On that night, Sept* 5, hardly any one
closed an eye* This was certainly war at last ; the
Boches were here* ♦ ♦ ♦ On the morning of the 6th,
the 135th took up their position to the north and east
of Vert* Towards 8*30 the attack commenced through
the village, and the bombardment was continuous till
three o'clock in the afternoon* The natives were
obliged to take refuge in their cellars* In the mean-
time* a German patrol of about a dozen men searched
the houses* Towards three o'clock an incendiary
bomb set the house of M* Lesaint on fire* The flames
spread rapidly to the next house, belonging to a
M* Thomas* As for the Café Thomas, the houses of
Poiret-Ploix and Ploix-Basson, it seemed they had
been set on fire by the German patrol* All this time
serried masses of German infantry were descending
by the woods from Toulon and Charmont ; the 135th

y

150 Foch at the Marne

French infantry had been obliged to beat a retreat,
leaving many dead behind it*

At five o'clock a German artillery regiment, the 1st
artillery regiment of the Guard, arrived at Vert and
occupied, among others, the houses situated on the
Vertus-Sézanne road* From that time we were able
to come out of our cellars and walk more freely about the
village* The artillery batteries, being installed to the
south and west of Vert, fired without ceasing on Mont-
Août, Broussy-le-Grand, and Reuves, thinking the
French troops were there* Towards 7*30 the regiment
left at the gallop in the direction of Coizard and we
saw it no more*

On Monday* Tuesday* and Wednesday* German
troops patrolled our streets without ceasing* but seemed
not to disturb the few remaining inhabitants* The
death of a brave farm-labourer has to be deplored-*—
Désiré Massonat* who was " knocked on the head by a
bottle and pierced in the chest by a lance/' according to
the Livre Ronge* Ever since Monday* French soldiers*
wounded in the fir-woods* had been coming in to the
village ; they were hospitably received* and their wounds
were dressed * * * the German patrols did them no
harm*

On Wednesday the 9th* at 3 p*m* the German troops,
in retreating* passed through the village in good order,
in deep silence and at great speed* One heard nothing
but the voices of the officers* hurling insults at their
men* a thing unheard of in the French Army : it is
unnecessary to reproduce them here* The troops con-
tinued to pass through the village till 2 a*m*

Details of the Battle 151

On Thursday the 10th, some belated German soldiers
were still here ; they were calmly preparing their dinner
of roast chickens at the Café Chariot, when some French
cuirassiers appeared* Hearing the horses' hoofs and see-
ing the drawn swords of these men, the Germans hid
themselves behind the doors and windows and fired on
them* This skirmish only lasted a few minutes : two
French soldiers were wounded, but not seriously» The
whole regiment soon followed this advance-guard» We
were saved 1

An infantry regiment arrived also ; it scoured the
country and the neighbouring marshes, and took a
dozen Boches prisoner, the same who had fired on our
cuirassiers» In the evening a division of infantry from
Rennes was quartered in the village» We were now more
than ever at ease in our minds, and that night we were
able to sleep peacefully in our beds»

Some of the emigrants returned next morning and
the rest on the following days, and we went out to look
for the dead» About forty were found on the territory
of Vert, not counting the Germans»

THE BATTERY OF THE CASTLE OF VERT

An eyewitness gives the following account in the
Libre Parole of April 15, 1917, of a feat of arms per-
formed by Captain Sanceret :

" On the 5th September, 1914, the 135th infantry
regiment left Aulnizeux» The 3rd battalion, as an
advance-guard, proceeded towards Vert-la-Gravelle»

152 Foch at the Marne

Two officers of the chasseurs came to inform Major
Noblet that there was a German artillery battery a short
distance away which seemed to be lightly guarded* The
12th company under Captain Sanceret being in the
vanguard, Major Noblet ordered it to follow oqe of
these aforementioned officers. Captain Sanceret obeyed
without knowing to what objective he was bound* He
thought at first he had to deal with a section of kneeling
foot-soldiers who were hiding behind a hedge* And at
80 metres he gave the order : ' Fix bayonets without
loading rifles/ At the first step forward, a fusillade met
the little troop, which was not, however, stopped in its
advance* But it was soon apparent that it was confronted
by artillerymen, who were firing their carbines from
behind the shelter of their guns. It was, in fact, a
battery with ammunition waggons and unsaddled horses*
Captain Sanceret accounted for the enemy soldiers and
their horses, while Lieutenant Durieux and his men
were engaged with the German officers, who insulted
them and fired on them from the windows of the Castle
of Vert-la-Gravelle, defended, if I remember rightly,
by a drawbridge and a deep moat»

" But the nth company of the 153th, on hearing the
fusillade, thought it a German offensive, and, owing to
this error, opened a violent fire upon the lath company*
Captain Sanceret with all his men, caught between two
fires, had to traverse the ditches of Vert-la-Gravelle,
in order by an oblique path to put himself in contact
with the reserve (9th and 10th companies) and then to
return and attempt the capture of these German guns.
In passing through the village he met Colonel Eon and

Details of the Battle 153

his staff, and gave an account of his adventurous ex-
pedition* Colonel Eon then sent a whole battalion to
bring back the guns* But it was too late* In the interval
the Uhlans had hurried up with their teams, and had
carried off the guns and ammunition*

44 Asa result of this fine feat of arms, which was pro-
bably the first direct contact of the French infantry with
German artillery, Major Noblet recommended Captain
Sanceret for promotion to the command of a battalion*
His recommendation was in the following terms :
4 Under a violent point-blank fire, he captured a
German battery at the Castle of Vert-la-Gravelle»'

44 Corporal XXX,"

Major Limal and Captain de Nanteuil at Coizard

Lieutenant B . ♦ Ss Journal of the Campaign

Our 3rd battalion of the 77th infantry commanded
by Major Limal was ordered on Sept* 6 to proceed to
the north-west of the village of Bannes, facing Coizard-
Joches, and to occupy the salient formed there» Â
violent cannonade was going on, and the crackling of
the machine-guns could be heard even from where we
were» The enemy line seemed» according to informa-
tion which the major had received» not to have reached
Toulon - la - Montagne» Many wounded (zouaves,
tirailleurs» artillerymen» and foot-soldiers) streamed
back towards Bannes» bearing witness to the stiff
nature of the struggle» The artillery» contrary to the

154 Foch at the Marne

two preceding days, went up further to the north, and
entered powerfully into the engagement.

The morning passed in the feverish hope that we
might come into action*

Towards eleven o'clock the commander of the iath
company received an order to take his company for-
ward in the direction of Coisard, to the south-western
boundary of the wood which crowned Mont-Toulon»

This movement was subjected, from its very outset,
to an infernal bombardment* At the start, Lieutenant
Moreau and about a dozen men at the head of the ist
section which he commanded were wounded*

The advance was made across the marshes under
extremely difficult conditions ; the water rose some-
times as high as the men's waists* But the battalion
succeeded in making this difficult crossing, and con-
tinued on its way towards the objective assigned to it*
The 1 2th company had as its particular objective the
south-western boundary of the Toulon wood; the
three other companies divided among them, to the
left, the Coizard-Joches district* From that time the
enemy artillery, established towards Vert-la-Gravelle
to the north-east, and the enclosure round the priory
to the north-west, centred its fire with particular in-
tensity on the front which we occupied* Arrived at
the path which, following the southern slopes of Mont-
Toulon, goes by Coizard to Vert-la-Gravelle, the com-
pany, exposed to the infantry fire of the enemy, and
above all to the shrapnel which swept the slopes to the
right and left, was obliged to scatter*

Some minutes later Captain de la Barre de Nanteuil

Details of the Battle 155

was seriously wounded in the left arm ; he continued,
nevertheless, to command his company* It arrived
soon afterwards at its objective and entered into action*
At this moment, Captain de Nanteuil, who had lost
his horse on August 27 near Lonny, who had suffered
for the last few days from enteric fever, and who was
weakened by a wound he had just received, gave over
the command of his company to Sergeant Buchmann*
Major Limal had accompanied the 12th company since
it had left the marshes, and was with Captain de
Nanteuil when the latter, at the end of his resources,
was obliged to hand over the command of his company*

All this time the three other companies, arrested by
small bodies of enemy forces established before Cour-
jeonnet, had not been able to advance further than
Coizard*

The command of the 1st section of the 12th com-
pany was given to Sergeant Pasquier ; that of the 2nd
to Sergeant-Major Quais»

It was necessary to ensure the protection and
safety of the position attained* Advance-guards
signalled that important enemy forces were march-
ing south through the woods* The company
having in the course of its advance wiped out the
snipers of the enemy infantry established in that part
of the wood of Toulon which projects to the south-
east, it was necessary to cover the right of the com-
pany, now more directly menaced* The bombardment
directed on the southern boundary of the wood re-
doubled in violence*

The units of the battalion engaged on the borders

i 5 6

Foch at the Marne

of the wood north of Coizard did not seem able to
continue their advance* The enemy forces advancing
through the wood facing the 12th company drew
nearer, throwing back the outposts who signalled that
important forces were advancing and threatened to
outflank the left of the company. Dispositions were
being made to resist as long as possible on this position,
and to parry these outflanking manœuvres, when
Colonel Lestoquoi ordered the 12th company to fall
back immediately on Mont- Août, and to the south on
Broussy-le-Grand» The order was communicated to
the leader of the section, and the movement, which
was to be carried out by platoons, was begun by the
4th platoon» The commander of the company went to
Captain de Nanteuil to inform him of the order, and
to ask him to follow the company in its retreat» But
he refused* under pretext that he would be a hindrance
to the execution of the movement* The commander
did his best to persuade him» proposing to leave some
men at his disposal* but the captain persisted in his
fine sacrifice» which won our respectful admiration»
and which was to be afterwards rewarded» when a few
days later the hospital in which he was lying was cap-
tured by our advance troops» and he was rescued from
the hands of the Germans»

The movement begun by the 4th section» soon
followed by that of the 3rd» was greeted by a redoubled
bombardment» and a violent fusillade from the enemy
units which occupied the south-eastern extremity of
the Toulon wood» Why did the 2nd section not follow
in its turn i Sergeant Perry» who, with some men of

Details of the Battle 157

the 1st platoon and of the 7th squad, succeeded in
rejoining the and section, can give no precise informa-
tion on this point. And so it came to pass that about
twenty-four men fell into the hands of die enemy.

That part of the company which had succeeded in
disengaging itself without serious losses in spite of the
heavy fire to which it was exposed, eventually regained
the marshes, whence it tried to reach Broussy-le-
Grand and Mont-Août with the rest of the regiment.
This movement was effected under violent artillery
fire, which followed the regiment as far as Broussy-le-
Grand» The march was very laborious* The men
were worn out with their efforts, the crossing and re-
crossing of the marshes was accomplished under diffi-
cult conditions, and the pursuing fire of the enemy
artillery did not give a moment's respite» Major
Limal, who had reached the southern extremity of
Mont-Toulon, was dangerously wounded during this
retreating movement»

At the southern debouch from the Marshes of Saint-
Gond, Sergeant Humeau, who had been obliged to
take command of the 4th platoon, had been charged
with collecting the laggards» He was detained beside
a man wounded by the explosion of a shell, and, while
dressing his wound and urging him to accept such
help as would enable him to rejoin the company,
Humeau himself was seriously wounded in the chest
and left arm by the explosion of another shell» In-
capacitated by his wounds, Humeau told the men who
were with him to abandon him» Before their departure
he asked them to take with them some papers and

158 Foch at the Marne

other things from his pockets, as well as a sum of 160
francs in gold, which he asked them to hand to the
commanding officer of the company to be distributed
to necessitous soldiers, thus giving a fine example of
generosity and nobility of character, and showing the
fine military qualities with which he was imbued* His
conduct was mentioned along with that of Captain de
Nanteuil in the colonel's report of the day's operations*
The regiment bivouacked in the neighbourhood of
Mont-Août, and arrived at 7 p«m» near the Castle of
Montgivroux*

Accounts of the German Occupation by some In-
habitants OF SOMMESOUS WHO REMAINED IN THE

Village

M» Hector Auguste (aged fifty-six years) wrote :

" The Germans entered Sommesous in the early
morning of Sept* 8* Several houses were already on
fire* To the fires caused by the bombardment they
added others, with the help of grenades no doubt,
since they were seen to break the windows with their
rifle-butts and throw something inside* I can speak
from experience* as my own bed was set on fire by
this means»

** I stayed in my house with my wife and two children
of the congregation» who were in my charge ; we
remained for the most part in the cellar» only going
upstairs to boil some potatoes, the only food we had,

Details of the Battle 159

and to cast a rapid glance into the street while hiding
behind the window curtains*

44 On the first day some Boches came down to the
cellar, revolver in hand, to ask if there were any men
in the house* My wife answered them, for I was
hidden behind a big barrel. They did not discover me*
They emptied a small barrel of wine, and forced my
wife to go upstairs while they rummaged through the
furniture and carried off anything they fancied*

44 On the second day a superior officer or general,
accompanied by another Boche, came to the house*
The Boche acted as interpreter, for he spoke perfect
French, and asked if he could come back and shelter
in my house for the night, should the weather be bad*
The second of these visitors declared that it was
France who had declared war on Germany, that
France would be annihilated, that three army corps
were already before the gates of Paris ; finally, that
the clergy were much to be blamed for the war* We
had no way of finding out what was going on in the
village except from the noise of the fusillade and the
bombardment, the passing and repassing of infantry,
who, leaving as a small body in the morning, were at
least 10,000 by the end of the day* (It is a strange
coincidence and resemblance that the animals also
leave the farms to wander through the meadows by
day, returning at night to the outskirts of the village*)
The Saxons left Sommesous on the morning of the
nth with all speed* Our troops came into the village
at once* We were delivered*"

i6o

Foch at the Marne

M. Ernest Boude, a country policeman, aged seventy-
two years, reports :

44 On Sept. 7, 1914, towards 4 p.m., the German
fire, which since the previous day had passed over
Sommesous* seemed to be concentrated on the village*
In order to ascertain what was going on on the out-
skirts, I left my house and went towards the Chalons
high road* Arrived near the last house of the village*
and standing under a tree* I was suddenly conscious
of a pain in my right foot* A piece of shrapnel from a
shell which had exploded not far from me* in glancing
off one of the branches of the tree* had hit me in a
ricochet* I found the bit of shrapnel in my boot* and I
was obliged to return home*

44 On the 8th the bombardment of the village re-
commenced about 4 a*m** and numerous fires broke
out*

44 Then a lively action took place to the south-east
of the village on the road to Mailly ; it resulted to the
advantage of the Germans* who at once proceeded to
occupy Sommesous* I saw them breaking the windows
with their rifle-butts* and throwing in bags of some
special powder of an incendiary nature*

44 Although I was wounded in the foot* I escaped
with many others to Dommartin-Lettrée (north-east
of Sommesous)* We crossed the German lines with-
out difficulty* Only once a group of officers* seated on
the side of the road* asked us where we were going*

44 There were at least 200 motor buses stationed
on the Vitry-le-François road* being loaded up with

Details of the Battle 1 6 1

furniture ; on our return to Sommesous on the 12th,
every house was pillaged» Nothing remained but the
debris these savages had left behind them/'

M» Paul Gervais (aged forty-eight years) writes :

" Towards 2 pan» on Sept» 7, 1914, Sommesous
received its first incendiary shells» The village was
occupied by a company of cyclist chasseurs of the 25th
battalion (at least» our quarter of the village» the north-
west). Many fires broke out in the rue de l'Église, the
northern side of the village» The bombardment con-
tinued till late at night» Towards four o'clock on the
8th the Germans entered the village to the sound of
music* coming in from Haussimont by the rue de
V Église. They had doubtless met our troops» for a
lively fusillade was heard» and continued till eight
o'clock» Cries of terror echoed through the streets»
Our neighbours, who came in beside us» said that the
Prussians had come into their house and had demanded
water to drink» but had forced them to drink first» We
prudently went down to our cellar»

44 Towards nine o'clock we noticed from the window
that our chasseurs were falling back fighting» An hour
later German artillery took up its position beside
the station» Then, after two hours' cannonade, silence
descended on the village»

44 Towards four o'clock in the afternoon, two young
Germans presented themselves» and asked my mother
in fluent French, ' Why in all the world did France
declare war on Germany»" My mother answered
them that they were mistaken» They added» ' You

lb 2 Foch at the Marne

tailed Jaurès ; he did not want war* To-morrow we
will be in Paris, where the revolution is raging/ My
mother replied to this, ' There is no revolution, and
you will never get into Paris : I am only an old woman,
and you can do to me what you will, but nothing will
prevent me from telling you that your Emperor has
deceived you/ They then went off without asking any
further questions* It was asserted that one of them was
taken prisoner two days later in a barn in the village*
The rest of the day was uneventful*

44 On the 9th some German orderlies came to get
milk for their wounded* Some were leading cows they
had found wandering in the meadows* Towards the
evening a squadron of light horse passed at the gallop
in the direction of Haussimont* About nine o'clock
the railway line was blown up*

44 One is right in supposing that on the 9th the
Germans burned .their dead* because we were able from
our windows to distinguish them carrying large grey
bundles into a neighbouring barn* Then the barn was
seen to take fire at its four corners* and a strong smell
of burning flesh was spread abroad*

44 Towards nine o'clock on the 10th, during an intense
cannonade* we noticed German cavalry galloping across
the fields towards the Chalons road* About 6 p*m* shells
from our 75 mm* guns passed above Sommesous to
explode on that road* I knew enough German to
recognise the following words shouted by the Prussians :
4 The army is to go to Chalons*' At 10 p*m* there was
absolute calm* so that we could allow ourselves to go
to bed, keeping watch in turn*

Details of the Battle 163

" From dawn on the nth, our own troops came into
the village* We had already walked abroad over the
countryside, three-quarters destroyed and devastated ;
we were able to save two houses and two barns which
were in danger. Many unfurnished houses, which had
escaped the bombardment and the fire, were filled with
wounded Germans/*

The widow Hattat, eighty-five years of age, reports :

44 My age prevented me from leaving the house of
Mme. Guillard, my neighbour, with whom I lived in
her cellar during the occupation and the bombardment.
The latter commenced at seven o'clock and set the whole
quarter of the village round the church on fire, as well as
two neighbouring houses belonging to me. The spec-
tacle was terrifying. Towards four o'clock on the 8th,
there was an uproar on the Vitry-le-François road. It was
the Germans entering the village ; at the same moment
our troops began to fire, and battle was joined with fixed
bayonets. It was terrible to hear the shouts of the com-
batants. The French definitely evacuated the village,
and the Boches at once commenced to pillage and rob.
They were Saxon troops, and they did me no harm and
only asked for milk and eggs. They made me drink
before them and eat before they tasted food, and they
called me Grandmother.

" Shortly before the battle, the French had driven
out the cattle; it was sad to see these poor beasts
wandering about, and still more sad to see a great number
of them killed or wounded. We had an ox wounded
by a bursting shell ; it returned to die at the entrance

1 64

Foch at the Marne

to its old home. Many cows were wounded, and the
bodies of thirty-two sheep were found near by»

" On the morning of the nth, after a violent bom-
bardment, French soldiers burst into the court and
asked us if we had received any hurt. Happily we were
all safe and now we were finally delivered/'

Of other inhabitants who remained in Sommesous
during the occupation, some have since died, and others,
because their memory is feeble from their advanced
years, or because they were hidden in their cellars, have
nothing further to add to what is recorded above.

Counting the children, twenty-one natives had
remained in the village*

Extract from the Diary of a German Officer

" ♦ ♦ ♦ We crossed the Marne on Sept* 6*
14 The XXth corps on our left marched straight on
Chalons ♦ On our right the Guards were heavily engaged ♦
When we reached Villeneuve, we learned that the Guards
had repulsed the enemy; our division is to pursue
him* We were in the wood which the enemy was
searching by shell fire* Bullets rained on every side,
but that which is destined for me was not among them»
We could not advance any further, the enemy was too
strong for us* On our left, the XDCth corps arrived in
time to give us a breathing space* There was a terrible
tornado of shell fire* We suffered from overpowering
thirst : a glass of Pilsener would have been welcome*

Details of the Battle 165

" Suddenly a shell fell in the wood and killed six of
my section : a second fell right in the midst of us : it
was impossible to resist any longer ; we retreated*

44 We tried many times to reach the village of Len~
harrée* but the enemy artillery swept the wood so that
it was impossible for us to push on. And we could not
discover the positions of the enemy's guns* We were
well aware of the explanation of the astonishing pre-
cision of the enemy's fire ; we were now in one of his
usual fields of fire* Lenharrée was the chief base on
the right wing* The general situation was as follows :
the Guards were fighting on ground which the enemy
knew as well as the palm of his hand* and were therefore
in a very critical position* It was similar to the situation
at Saint-Privat only th?t now we were all in the wood*
under a terrible fire* Our artillery could do nothing*
for it could see nothing* We found an order of General
Joffre's to the commanding officer of the Xlth French
corps* telling him that he was now playing his last card*
It was also probably his best 1 As we came to know
afterwards* the artillery opposing us had an immense
reserve of ammunition* * * * Absolutely exhausted*
we waited for nightfall* In front of us everything was
quiet*

44 Sept. 8* — We advanced again against an enemy
hidden in trenches dug in ideal positions* In spite of
his artillery fire* which nothing could reduce to silence*
we attempted yet again to cross the wood* As soon as we
reached the northern boundary, a terrible fire opened on
us ; artillery and infantry fire doubled in intensity* A
magnificent spectacle was stretched in front of us : far

1 66 Foch at the Marne

away on the horizon, Lenharrée was in flames, and we
saw*the enemy in retreat, beaten at last* He fell back
from one wood to another, bombarding us furiously,
and scattering us with his machine-guns» Finally we
reached the village, but we were driven out of it with
great loss*

" The 178th regiment alone had 1700 men wounded,
in addition to its dead» Its officers were practically
wiped out»

" One more word on the subject of the artillery battle
from the French side» There were telephone wires laid
everywhere» and it was thought that French officers,
hidden in the trees» telephoned our exact position in
the wood»

44 Sept. 9» — The enemy was apparently two kilo-
metres in advance of us» Our artillery arrived an hour
too late» unfortunately» The French were indefatigable
in digging trenches» We crossed a wood and lost con-
tact altogether» We saw the companies retiring, and we
ourselves received an order to beat a retreat» We passed
across Lenharrée again, where we found piles of dead
bodies, and we went into cantonments at Germinon»
A rumour spread abroad that the 1st Army Corps had
had a disastrous encounter» The engineers prepared
to blow up the bridges» We passed through Chalons-
sur-Marne with all haste» I was terribly depressed 1
Every one seemed to think the position critical» The
uncertainty is worse than anything» I think we have
advanced too fast, and that we will be worn out by these
forced marches and incessant fighting» So much so
that we will have to wait for reinforcements» We are

Details of the Battle 167

going to Mourmelon-le-Petit, where we are to be put in
deep trenches. Four of our aviators, it is said, have
been brought down by the enemy/ f

The Plundering of the Castle of Bays

The question of the pillage of the Castle of Baye is
contested, naturally, by Germany* The members of
the French commission charged with conducting the
inquiry have written as follows :

" We proceeded to the Castle of Baye, and found
in that building proofs of the pillage to which it had
been subjected»

44 On die first floor, a door and four windows have
been broken* Art treasures and gold medals have been
taken away* The room of the Baron of Baye was in the
greatest disorder : numerous articles were strewn on
the floor ; the drawers were open and in a state of
disorder* The front of a bureau was broken, a Louis
XVI* chest and a round-topped bureau of the same
period had been ransacked* This room must have been
occupied by a personage of high rank, for the following
chalk inscription was found on the door : J* K. HoheiU
No one was able to give us any information as to the
identity of this Highness : but a general, who lodged
with M* Houllier, the municipal councillor, said to his
host that the castle had sheltered the Duke of Brunswick
and the staff of the Xth Corps/'

In support of this opinion, M* Georges Montorgueil,
a journalist of high ability and recognised honesty

\

1 6 8 Foch at the Marne

whose judgments are models of precision, published
the following information in the Éclair; it forms
decisive confirmation of the hypotheses of the official
commission : ** The name of the Duke of Brunswick's
orderly officer, Colonel Sknigge, was found written in
chalk (in German) on one of the doors of the castle
near the room of M* de Baye, which was occupied by
William II/s son-in-law,

" All the officers of the Xth corps (Hanoverians) are
represented in these inscriptions on the doors :

" Chief-af-Staff Count Lamsdorf. Staff-Officers ;
Captain Krall, Captain Siulpnagel, Major von Beig,
Colonel von Winterfeld, etc.

44 Prince Eitel was there too : the proof is given in
the name of his orderly-officer, Major von Amsberg.

44 Regarding the inscription, L K. Hoheit, of which
the report speaks, two names were written above that
inscription : they had afterwards been rubbed out, but
could still be easily read : first Braunschweig ; then
below it, Eitd-Friedrich.

44 A touching family reunion truly, and a touching
unanimity of purpose no doubt, to empty the castle of
which these princes of German blood were the guests,
and which for that reason should have been sacrèd
from their hands I "

Personal information allows us to add that, " in the
so-called Louis XVL room, where the Count of
Bothmer was lodged (Oberst), Mme. la Baronne de
Baye found a box addressed to that officer in these
words : Orderly-Officer of the General commanding {he
Xth Army Corps ; and on the back of the box : Sent

Details of the Battle 169

by Erika, Countess of Bothmer, Strasse ♦ ♦ ♦ Berlin ;
the Bothmer coat-of-arms was still intact on the seal* ♦ ♦ ♦
The bureau of the room occupied and pillaged
by the Duke of Brunswick had contained between
15,000 and 18,000 francs as well as jewels, watches»
etc* This bureau was broken to pieces* All the furni-
ture in all the rooms had been forced open ; collections
of fans* miniatures* laces had been stolen* The cellar
had been completely emptied* The dining-hall alone
was respected* doubtless because the German princes
had their meals there ; but all the china* including an
antique and beautiful service of glass* was broken
after it had been used* The Germans stayed five days
at Baye* Before the enemy occupation* a hospital had
been installed* by order of the baroness* on the ground
floor of the castle* It was evacuated by the Germans
who filled it with their own wounded* These villains
pushed their cynicism to the extent of taking away the
veil used to cover the faces of the dead of that ancient
family* a lace veil of great value* By good fortune part
of the celebrated collection which had come out of the
prehistoric grottos discovered and excavated by M*
de Baye in this region, as well as his Gallic and Gallo-
Roman collections* had been taken away to the Museum
at Saint-Germain* where they are lodged in two rooms
bearing the name of the generous and learned
donor*"

In the face of these proofs* of what value is the
German official report i The impartiality of the his-
torian makes it incumbent on us to publish this report*
which comes from the German Embassy at Madrid*

170 Foch at the Marne

but which was probably circulated through all the
chancelleries of Europe :

44 The four members of the French commission
affirm that they found in the Castle of Baye ' traces of
the pillage to which it had been subjected ' ; they
say that doors and windows had been forced open,
that valuable things of Russian origin, as well as several
gold medals, had been taken away ; that tables, chests
of drawers, cupboards had been searched and their
contents strewn over the floor* It has been suspected
that the Duke of Brunswick and the Staff of the Xth
army corps were guilty of this robbery*

" The investigations commenced by the German
government have led to the following results :

44 A. Our troops entered the Castle of Baye on
Sept* 5, 1914» The military situation was such that it
was impossible for our troops to occupy the castle
before that date*

44 £♦ Before the arrival of our troops the French had
abandoned the castle with all haste, as is proved by
French letters which have been found, and by a French
4 Order of the Day/ This fact has also been confirmed
by the concierge of the castle.

41 C. When our troops entered the castle they found
it in a state of extreme disorder and dirt. Cupboards
were open, their locks forced, their contents strewn
on the ground* The beds were in disorder* Every-
thing was dirty and untidy* In the museum every-
thing on the surface appeared to be intact ; only the
glass of one or two cases was broken, and the pieces
had fallen inside* In one of these cases there were

Details of the Battle 171

views of the castle, of which one or two seemed to
have disappeared* All this was confirmed immediately
after the entry of our troops*

** D, During the night of Sept* 9 our troops aban-
doned the castle : it remained (after all possible clean-
ing had been done» and any furniture which had been
moved restored to its proper place) in the same state in
which it had been found on Sept* 5* The following
morning it was reoccupied by the French and trans-
formed into a hospital*

" E. The conciergeof the castle, to whom the German
officers on their arrival had spoken of the state in which
they had found the interior, declared that the Germans
were not responsible* and added, ' French officers were
responsible for all that/

44 F* After the departure of the German troops, not
one of the inmates of the castle complained of the con-
duct of the Germans* Moreover, four gentlemen* one
of whom was said to be the proprietor of the castle*
after having carefully examined the building* said not
a single word referring to pillage or other devastations,
and they left the castle quite calmly/'

To show the value of this report* it suffices to observe
that before the arrival of the German troops — not
after their departure — the ground floor of the castle
alone was occupied as a French hospital ; that all the
other rooms were locked up and under the care of the
guardians of the castle* who affirmed that up to that
time there was no disorder* that no robbery had taken
place, that the concierge of the castle energetically
denied having made the statement attributed to her by

172 Foch at the Marne

the German report ; finally, that Baron de Baye, the
proprietor of the castle, was in Russia from the begin-
ning of July, 1914, the Czar, Nicholas IL, having
asked him to do the honours of the " Museum of 1812/'
formed by his efforts, to M» Poincaré» The President
of the Republic returned to France before the declara-
tion of war, but at the date on which we write Baron
de Baye has not yet left Russia* As for the Baroness,
since the outbreak of war she and her daughter have
been serving as nurses at the hospital instituted in the
Grand Hotel at Biarritz. And so the whole allegations
of the German report are refuted*

Extract from the Report of the Commission in-
stituted WITH A VIEW TO OBTAINING PROOF OF

Acts committed by the Enemy, violating the
Dtpit des Gens (December 17, 1914)

Marne district

In the department of the Marne, as elsewhere,
German troops were guilty of general pillage and
robbery, effected always under the same conditions,
that is, with the complicity of their officers. In this
way the communes of Heiltz-le-Maurupt, Suippes,
Marfaux, Fromentières, and Esternay suffered espe-
cially. All that the invader took from the houses was
loaded on motor lorries, on carriages, or carts. At
Suippes in particular he carried away a great quantity
of diverse objects, among others sewing-machines and
toys*

Details of the Battle 173

Many villages and small towns were set on fire with-
out any military reason» And it cannot be doubted
that these crimes were committed by order ; the de-
tachments arrived in the villages with their torches
and grenades as well as their usual weapons*

At Lépine, a farmer called Caquet, who had two
cyclists lodging with him, asked them if the grenades
with which he saw them provided were destined for
his house ♦ " No," they replied, " we are finished with
Lépine/ 9 By that time nine houses in the village were
already burnt to the ground*

At Marfaux nineteen houses fell a prey to the flames»

At Gault-la-Forêt seven or eight houses were de-
stroyed» The commune of Glannes no longer exists, or
it would tell the same tale* At Somme-Tourbe the
whole village was burned down, with the exception of
the Mairie, the church, and two private houses*

At Auve nearly the whole town was wiped out* At
Etrepy sixty-three households out of seventy were
without shelter* At Huiron all the houses, with the
exception of five, were set on fire* At Sermaize-les-
Bains only about forty houses were left out of 900* At
Bignicourt-sur-Saulx thirty houses out of thirty-three
were reduced to ruins*

In the large town of Suippes, of which a great part
was burned down, soldiers were seen walking along
the streets carrying straw and cans of petrol* While
the mayor's house was in flames, six sentinels with
fixed bayonets were posted to prevent any one enter-
ing in order to save it*

All these incendiary fires— which only represent a

~ÏW

174 Foch at the Marne

small part of the dreadful total of such deeds of which
the Marne district was the scene — were set alight
without the inhabitants of these places — now almost
completely destroyed — showing the least sign of re-
bellion, the slightest resistance* In some villages the
Germans, before setting them on fire, caused a shot to
be fired by one of their soldiers in order to be able
to pretend afterwards that the civil population had
attacked them, a pretext the more absurd that by the
time the enemy arrived there was no one left in the
villages except old people or invalids totally incapable
of any form of aggression*

Numerous attempts were also made against the
lives of the inhabitants* Hostages were taken away
from most of the communes ; many of them never
returned* At Sermaûge-les-Bains, where the Germans
took away about fifty hostages, some of them were
dressed up in helmets and military coats, and in these
accoutrements made to mount guard over the bridges*

At Bignicourt-sur-Saulx thirty men and forty-five
women and children were forced to go away with
a German detachment* One of the men, Emile
Pierre, has not returned ; nothing has been heard of
him* At Corfélix the Sieur Jacquet, who was taken
away on Sept* 7, with eleven of his fellow-citizens,
was found about 500 metres from the village, a bullet
through his head*

At Sompuis the curé, his servant, and four other
inmates, taken on the same day as hostages from
Corfélix, had not returned at the time of our inquiry*

In the same district an old man of seventy years of

Details of the Battle 175

age, called Jacquemin, was fastened down to his bed
by an officer and left in that state, without food, for
three days* He died soon afterwards*

At Vert-la-Gravelle a young farm-labourer was
killed* He was knocked on the head by a bottle, and his
chest was pierced by a lance* At Champguyon* a com-
mune which was set on fire, a man called Verdier was
killed in the house of his father-in-law* The latter was
not present at the execution* but he heard a shot* and
the next day an officer said to him : " Your son has
been shot* He is under the debris/' But in spite of the
search which was made* the body was not found* It
must have been burned*

At Sermaize a road-mender called Brocard was put
among the hostages* At the moment when he was
arrested along with his son* his wife and daughter-in-
law* mad with fear* threw themselves into the Saulx*
The old man, contriving to free himself for a moment*
ran to them as fast as he could and made several
attempts to save them ; but the Germans dragged him
pitilessly away* leaving the two unhappy women to
drown in the river* When set at liberty at the end of
four days* Brocard and his son recovered the bodies ;
they affirm that both women had been shot through the
head*

At Montmirail a scene of veritable savagery was
enacted* On Sept* 5* a non-commissioned officer
threw himself * * * on the widow Naudé in whose
house he lodged * * * ; her father, François Fontaine,
ran to her on hearing her cries* Shortly afterwards
fifteen or twenty Germans forced open the door of the

176 Foch at the Marne

house, pushed the old man into the street and shot him
without pity* At that moment, little Juliette Naudé,
having opened her window, was struck by a bullet
which went right through her body* The poor child
died, after twenty-four hours of agony*

On Sept* 6, at Champguyon, a woman called Louvet
was present at the martyrdom of her husband* Seeing
him in the hands of ten or fifteen soldiers* who had
knocked him down with blows from a stick in front
of his own house* she ran out and embraced him in the
gateway* She was brutally thrown back* while these vile
executioners dragged away her unfortunate husband*
who was covered with blood* He implored them to spare
his life* as he had done nothing to deserve such treat-
ment* but he was put to death at the end of the village*
When his wife found him he was horribly disfigured*-
His skull was battered in* one of his eyes was torn out
and one of his wrists broken*

At Esternay on Sept* 6* thirty-five or forty Germans
dragged away the Sieur Laurenceau about three o'clock
in the afternoon ; he made a sudden movement* as if to
free himself* and was at once shot*

(Here follow particulars of the way in which the
German soldiers maltreated women and children
at Esternay, Vitry-en-Perthois* Suippes* Jussecourt-
Minecourt, and so on*)

As the bombardment of an open town incontestably
constituted a violation of the Droit des Gens, we
thought it within our province to make investigations
at Reims, which was bombarded by the Germans for

si

i 1

Details of the Battle 177

twenty-four days* After having received the report of
the mayor, by which we saw that about 300 persons of
the civil population had been killed, we investigated the
destruction of many buildings, and we were able to get
some idea of the enormous and irreparable damage
inflicted on the cathedral* Since October 7, the date
of our visit, the bombardment has continued ; the
number of victims must have increased considerably*
The whole world knows how this unhappy town has
suffered, and also that the attitude of its municipality
has been above all praise*

In the course of our inquiry at the Hôtel-de-Vilh,
six shells fell in the vicinity of that building* The
fifth fell a short distance from the principal façade;
the sixth, fifteen or twenty metres from the offices*

On the following day we went to the Castle of Baye,
where we found evidences of the pillage to which that
building had been subjected*

♦ ♦♦*♦♦

On the same day we visited the Castle of Beaumont,
near Montmirail, belonging to Count Alfred de la
Rochefoucauld* According to the gardener f s wife,
this building was pillaged by the Germans in the
absence of its owner, during an occupation which
lasted from the 4th to the 6th of September* The
invaders left behind them a state of great disorder and
indescribable uncleanliness*

Writing-desks, bureaux, and strong-boxes had been
broken open ; jewel-boxes had been taken out of the
drawers and emptied*

It was still. possible to make out chalk inscriptions

178 Foch at the Marne

on the doors of the rooms ; among them we noticed
the following : Excdlenz, Major von Lebedur, Graf
Waldersee.

G* Payelle, President.
Armand Mollard, G* Maringer*

Paillot* reporter.

The Priory of Saint-Gond

The Priory of Saint-Gond or Gaond, two leagues
from Sésanne, formerly called Saint-Pierre-en-Oyes,
was a beautiful abbey founded by this saint about the
year 660» He was a nephew of Vaudregesil, Mayor of
the Palace, and was related to King Dagobert L, who
brought him up in the same eminent piety which he
himself professed* They both left the court in 654,
during the reign of Clovis IL, and retired to a place
called Fontenelle* There they built an abbey, in which
they had the consolation of sheltering 300 religious
at the same time* That made Vaudregesil resolve —
he had already merited the name of Saint — to propose
to Saint Gond that he should establish another abbey
with some of his followers in a lonely place to which
Providence should conduct him* He left Fontenelle
about the year 660» five years before the death of his
uncle, who passed away in 665* After having lived in
several other places* he arrived finally in a district
called Oye, which is situated in a beautiful valley,
abounding in meadows and springs, covered with
woods and encircled by low-lying hills* a veritable
solitude* In this place Saint Gond built a church/

Details of the Battle 179

which was dedicated to Saint Peter, as well as little
cells for himself and those religious who were witli him*

Hastingue, a famous warrior who commanded the
army of the Normans, was born in a little town of
Champagne called Trancaut (in Latin Tranquilius) ;
he breathed only fire and blood, and he pillaged and
burned this abbey; but in 959, Eve, the sister of
Valderic, Archbishop of Rheims, and of Alberon,
Bishop of Metz, instituted a search for the body of
Saint Gond, which had been hidden in the ground*
She had the precious relics put in a shrine, and she
rebuilt the monastery, in which she established a
number of religious* She consecrated the church in
honour of Saint Gond, and she kept it up and cared
for it from that time* According to an ancient title of
this abbey of the year 1138, Hatton, the fifty-sixth
bishop of Troyes, confirmed Ebrand, an abbot, in the
possession of all lands belonging to the abbey* and he
gave him other lands as well* There are also extant
the briefs of several popes* among others one of the
year 1200, which show that this abbey was recognised
by the sovereign pontiffs.

In the year 1155, Henry* first of the name, Count
of Champagne, forbade John* Seigneur of Pleurs, to
continue his exactions against the abbot and religious
of this abbey* which he put under his own protection,
and that of the counts, his successors* This title was
given at Vertus in the month of April* 11 55* The same
count gave lands to the abbey in 11 56, 1171* and 1173 ;
but the seigneurs who were the overlords of this abbey
seized its principal revenues by force* The abbot, not

1 8 o Foch at the Marne

being in a position to compel the restitution of funds
by these usurpers, proposed, in order to preserve what
little remained to it, to abandon the title of abbot, to
be content with that of prior, and to put this priory
under the care of the abbey of Montier-la-Celle* This
was done in 1342 by the authority of Pope Clement VL
and the ministry of the Bishop of Troyes* Only eight
religious were left to celebrate divine office day and
night, and to sing High Mass every day* The revenue
was about 10,000 livres. It is asserted to this day that
though this monastery is situated in the midst of a
marsh, no one ever hears more than one frog croaking
at a time* That is attributed to the prayers of Saint
Gond, who, being sadly interrupted by the noise of the
frogs in the marsh, commanded them to keep silence*
Up till a few years ago, there were still five or six
monks who sang the divine office ; but they were
obliged to content themselves each with a modest
pension, to retire where they could, and to abandon
the monastery, which is now nothing but a farmer's
dwelling, the abbey with its revenues having been
merged in the Seminary of Troyes* There is now only
one mass celebrated at Saint-Gond on Sundays, and on
the feast days of the Church* (Baugier, Mémoires his-
toriques de la Province de Champagne, vol ii. mdccxxl)

Prince Eitei/s Trench

We have received the following letter from Abbé
Favret, chaplain of Temporary Hospital No* 20, at
Chalons-sur-Marne : —

Details of the Battle 181

44

In the course of October 1914, I went out to
search for the body of Captain Gauroy of the 90th,
who had fallen between Bannes and F ère-Champenoise*
In the course of my search, which was on this occasion
unfruitful, I noticed, on the border of the road from
Broussy - le - Grand to F ère - Champenoise, a trench
which seemed to be particularly well dug and cared
for, more so even than most of the German trenches*
It was about one and a half metres deep (roughly about
four and a half feet)* and was protected by a parapet
fifty centimetres (one and a half feet) high, bevelled on
each side ; its direction was south-west* *

44 All over the neighbouring ground, and particu-
larly in the trench, fragments of post cards, envelopes
and telegrams were strewn about* All of these were
addressed to Prince Eitel ; some of the envelopes bore
the seal of the prince's aide-de-camp» Near this
trench I found a little cardboard box which had been
fastened with a cord of the German colours, and
which was addressed on a label also bearing these
colours to

Sr* Kôniglichen Hoheit

Dem Prinzen

Eitel Friedrich von Preusen

Im Felde

The particulars of his address were in pencil, /♦ G*
Reg. — 1st Regiment of the Guard/* (A reproduction
of this document faces p, 160»)

1 82 Foch at the Marne

Abbé Gauroy, who accompanied Abbé Favret, gives
us some interesting information : " I was with my
colleague of the College of Saint-Étienne during his
search for the body .of one of my brothers, Captain
Gauroy, who fell in action on Sept* 8 at the head of
the 2nd company of the 90th. In a trench to the south
of Bannes on the edge of the road leading from Broussy-
le-Grand to Fère-Champenoise, about 150 or 200
metres from the place where we found the grave of my
brother, we discovered a little cardboard box, ten by
fifteen centimetres* A cord of the German colours
which had tied it was still attached to the cover, on
which the inscription, forwarded to you by Abbé
Favret, was still plainly legible/'

The presence of Prince Eitel, if not at Mondement,
at least before the marshes of Saint-Gond, is thus
clearly proved* And there was nothing to prevent him
from going to the castle on the morning of the 9th,
when he learned of its fall*

Captain Cuttoli's Company at Oyes
Journal of Captain de Sales de Sabales

At the time when the 77th regiment of the line fell
back on Mont-Août, drawing the 2nd tirailleurs along
with it, the Lachèze battalion (1st zouaves) still oc-
cupied the heights 1500 metres to the south of Oyes
(the slopes of Montgivroux), and the 1st company of
the battalion, under Captain Cuttoli, was at Oyes*

If the heights commanding Oyes were abandoned,

Details of the Battle 183

the village would become untenable, a veritable death-
trap, the marshes on the right barring the way of escape*
Forewarned of the movement of the 2nd tirailleurs by
Colonel Fellert, this company, after having retired,
hurled itself again on the village*

The Germans were already there*

We were facing north*

Three sections were on the left with the captain —
the 1st, 2nd* and 3rd (Sergeant Floutier, Sergeant-
major Prunet, and Sergeant Cléoles) ; a half-section
of the 4th faced the village* forming a screen (half-
section Dubois) ; the 2nd half-section was posted by
the marshes, as well as a section of the 3rd company*
which was attached to our movement* I went with
this group* On the right we went forward without
much delay* crossing the Oyes-Reuves road* which
divides the southern part of Oyes into two nearly equal
halves* We arrived at a little meadow* cut up by hedges,
where we threw ourselves on the German contingents
which had filtered in by the marshes* In spite of our
losses, our positions were everywhere good* and we
were accomplishing good work, when two liaison
officers in succession brought me the order to cease
fire and to rejoin the three other companies* The few
details* confused and fragmentary as they were* added
by these liaison officers allowed me to perceive the
gravity of the situation*

On the left* Captain Cuttoli with his three sections
had also advanced* He reached Oyes and found him-
self in a field of maize* when a terrible fusillade felled
a large part of his men of the 1st and 3rd sections to

184 Foch at the Marne

the ground» Sergeant Cléoles was wounded. Sergeant-
major Prunet's section, which had advanced by the
right side of the road, and was already engaged in the
village, suffered a no less violent frontal fire from
enemy snipers hidden in the houses and gardens*

Dubois' half-6ection* augmented by men from the
1st and 3rd sections brought along by the captain, had
flung itself behind a garden wall which lies to the
east of the Villevenard-Oyes road, along the Oyes-
Reuves road* There they fought desperately, and
made a regular hecatomb of Germans* The position
of this little troop* entirely uncovered on the left* was
extremely critical ; repeated and urgent orders from
the captain commanded it to rejoin the other com-
panies of the battalion* Unfortunately* these remnants
of the section* holding on there to allow me time to
fall back* were cut off on the left by an enemy force
constantly increasing in numbers* which* finding no
longer any foe in front of it* fell with fury on this mere
handful of men* The captain fell* wounded by five
bullets* Sergeant Floutier* who commanded the 1st
section, and Sergeant Dubois* who commanded the
2nd half of my section* fell also* both shot through
the lungs* There were acts of heroism during this
affair which deserve to be recorded ; zouaves who
allowed themselves to be killed in defending the body
of their chief ; others who by their firm bearing and
splendid courage kept their hesitating comrades at
their posts* comrades unnerved by the loss of their
officers and non-commissioned officers* The sergeant-
major* who was killed* was found on the battlefield

Details of the Battle 185

surrounded by a whole squad of his section who had
been killed where they stood rather than abandon him.
Only two men of this section were left alive* When the
captain fell, shot in five places, the zouaves Bonforul,
Resclon and Moisset rushed forward under a hail of
bullets to rescue him, and succeeded in carrying him
some hundred metres before they also fell in their turn*
Resclon and Moisset were shot in the chest ; Bonforul 's
thigh was broken*

With the captain, all the corporals and sergeants
round him had fallen» Without even a non-commis-
sioned officer to command them, the men who re-
mained hesitated» But a zouave called Dabonneville,
by his proud bearing and resolute attitude» kept them
together behind the wall while the body of the captain
was being carried away» With the men who remained
to me I gained the trenches» now occupied by the 4th,
3rd» and and companies ; then I went back behind the
Mondement-Reuves road to find the remnants of the
3rd and 1st sections» I was left the sole officer» with
eighty-six men and one sergeant» I at once informed
the major of my position, of the serious losses which
our company had sustained» and asked him for further
orders» I waited there till night fell»

The objective of the Germans in this affair was the
Castle of Mondement, a strategical point which they
coveted» Disorganised for an instant by the unsuc-
cessful offensive of our company» they yet continued
to advance» when they came across an obstacle» more
serious this time — three other companies of the
battalion with a machine-gun section at their head»

1 8 6 Foch at the Marne

hidden behind the trenches we had dug the day before.
The position was strong ; the day was waning» And
the Germans, who advanced in deep columns, were
to pay dearly for the losses they had inflicted on us»
The masses which had advanced on us streamed back
in disorder on Oyes» Their offensive was broken*
They did not resume it that evening, and at 7 a»m»,
when Captain Lachèze — who, in spite of the fact that
all his ammunition was exhausted, had stuck to his
positions — when he fell back on the wood of Allemant
no new effort had been made on the part of the enemy»

THE 77TH AT MONDEMENT

By Élie Chamard, Bandsman and Stretcher-bearer of

the 77th Infantry Regiment

« » « On Sept» 7 the regiment, worn out by the
fighting at Bannes, was resting near Linthes and
Saint-Loup, when the colonel was informed by a staff-
officer of the retreat of the Germans on our left» He
at once dispatched his adjutant, Captain Bé&ers-la-
Fosse, to spread the good news among the battalions»
The men's faces cleared at once, they shouted for joy,
they threw up their képis. All lassitude had disappeared»
And at this moment Lieutenant Burgevin was seen
riding forward on his grey mare, leading the re-
victualling convoy» For five days we had eaten
/ nothing !

Alas I hardly had the halt commenced when one of
General Humbert's staff-officers arrived with the order

Details of the Battle 187

to proceed at once to the relief of the zouaves and the
tirailleurs. Farewell to feasting !

The regiment climbed up the slopes of Broyés
towards 5 p»m. and bivouacked in the Castle of Mont-
givroux. That night passed peacefully. But at dawn
we proceeded to the Signal du Poirier. The brigade
remained at the castle. The staff of the 77th was installed
in a wooden hut among the vineyards, half-way up the
hill. On arriving, Captain Henrion 1 pushed forward
an audacious reconnaissance to the villa of Soizy-aux-
Bois. Two prisoners were taken, the first of that
battle. 8 During this time Colonel Lestoquoi, Captain
Béziers-la-Fosse and Second-Lieutenant Boulin had
effected a liaison with the tirailleurs and zouaves of the
first line. But the enemy sprinkled the headquarters
copiously with shells. One shell exploded in the hut
and wounded Second-Lieutenant Clairon, the colonel's
secretary. The battle raged. One felt the bitter fury
of the enemy's assault : he wished at all costs to advance
and take the heights which barred the route to Troyes.
Rain fell, the sharp rain of a thunderstorm which re-
freshed the atmosphere. At two o'clock the brigade
received orders that the regiment was to return to
Saint-Loup to be under the orders of the general com-
manding the Xth corps. The situation was said to be
serious on our right : Mont-Août was turned : F ère-
Champenoise was taken. At four o'clock units of the

1 Captain Henrion was mentioned in the Army Order for his
splendid conduct.

1 This point is contested» On the 5th an Uhlan» one of a patrol
which had slipped in between Sommesotis and Haussimont, was made
[prisoner by a detachment of the 1st dragoons»

1 8 8 Foch at the Marne

77th commenced this movement* The Morocco division
thought a general order to retreat had been received :
it began to fall back in its turn. At the same moment
our adversary, by whom our movements were not un-
noticed, redoubled his efforts and attacked without
ceasing until one of his brigades debouched on Oyes
early in the morning of the 9th, and seized the Castle of
Mondement, of which it at once organised the defence
in a remarkable way.

The 77th finally freed itself without heavy losses
and set out for Saint-Loup. It was five o'clock* Rain
began to fall again, a heavy shower which soaked the
men to the bone* Restless and full of consternation, they
gave up all hope ; especially when, descending from
Broyés and Alternant, they saw the plain of the Aube
in the distance. Many of them said, " If we have to
fall back still further, how far will we get, with the
enemy's artillery sweeping over that plain I "

Add to all that the gnawing pain of hunger :
yesterday's meal had been very light»

The night was spent at Saint-Loup. The captains
of several companies had managed to secure some
mutton; it was divided in the early morning. The
sun was shining brightly. The rain had stopped. The
moral was excellent. To-day's menu included mutton
cutlets. What a feast ! But at 8.45 an express order
arrived : the regiment was to proceed with all haste to
Mondement, which the enemy was about to occupy.

Consternation reigned ; but it passed quickly, for
the spirit of this fine body of troops was admirable.
" The situation is grave, very grave, but not hopeless,"

Details of the Battle 189

the men were told. " Hold on until midnight and the
battle is won/' The men had confidence ; we left in
good heart, even though we had not had time to cook the
mutton, and the huge cauldrons of coffee were not
even tasted. The 2nd battalion made straight for
Allemant, while the 1st and the 3rd formed them-
selves into a screen across the fields to Broyés* In this
way we gained the wood to the south-east of the castle.
The colonel had received various orders from General
Humbert ; he wished the village and castle of Monde-
ment to be taken. The staff counted on the 77th for
this task, which was both difficult and of extreme im-
portance. The situation was far from being bright in
this area of the battle ; the tirailleurs and the zouaves
were terribly cut up ; they roamed at large, without
leaders, in the wood. A battalion of the 208th also
marched forward to the adventure. But the entry of
the 77th on the scene was to set everything right.

Colonel Lestoquoi, by his own reconnaissances and
those of the battalions (particularly that of the 6th
company), judged the enemy's defence to be extremely
powerful. 1 The village was strongly held. The walls of

1 We had the 77th Prussian regiment and the 164th Hanoverians
before us* (Note by E* C.) This is confirmed by the shoulder-straps
which M* Roland collected in the little museum in the schoolhouse at
Villevenard ; they belong for the most part to the 77th (white and
grey-blue ground), to the 164th (grey-blue), to the 16th (grey-blue),
56th (grey-blue), 74th (grey-blue), 78th (white), 79th (grey-blue) and
the regiments of the Guard (a W surmounted by a crown on grey-
blue or white, in red or gold letters). " The Germans/' said M. Roland,
" took off their shoulder-straps before going into action, in order to
conceal the numbers of their regiments» Black masks were also found,
which were put on in order that at a distance the Germans might be
mistaken for our Senegalese troops/'

i go Foch at the Marne

the park were pierced with loop-holes fifty centimetres
above the ground ; machine-guns were installed in
each corner*

Picked marksmen were posted at every window of
the castle, sheltered behind mattresses. In the face of
this organisation and under the fire of our own guns,
which could not reach the buildings, Colonel Lestoquoi
asked that a gun should be carried forward by the men
in order that the gunners should have a better target.
But his idea seemed impossible to carry out»

At 1*30, General Humbert sent an order to the
colonel of the 77th to seize Mondement, to reconnoitre
the north-western boundary of the Allemant wood, to
attack it if the enemy was there, and to occupy it if it
had been abandoned by the zouaves*

The 1st battalion seized the ground to the west of the
castle, to the left of the Broyés road* The 3rd battalion
(Major de Courson) was posted behind it* The woods
protected them sufficiently* The 2nd battalion (Major
de Beaufort), which was charged with the attack, was
massed near the Broyés road to the south of the castle*.
Two companies of zouaves developed the movement
on the left, supported by the 1st battalion under Major
de Merlis*

At 2*30 p*m* the colonel informed Colonel Eon that
his attack was ready, and that he only awaited the sup-
port of the artillery*

During this time Major de Beaufort sent his liaison
officer, Pierre Rabouin, 1 to inform the artillery to

1 Pierre Rabouin. sergeant of the 77th, cyclist orderly of the colonel,
Military Medal, mentioned four times in the order of the day* fell on;

Details of the Battle 191

stretch out its fire» Then he gave the order, Fix
bayonets ! But before charging, this ardent Catholic
felt the need of commending his force to God* He
called a soldier priest, Corporal Gallard, a missionary,
out of the ranks, and asked him to give absolution to
those men who wished to receive it* The battalion fell
on its knees at the sign of the Cross* It is difficult to
imagine anything more moving than this scene* The
companies were massed 500 metres from the castle,
which they were about to attack to the south of the
kitchen garden, the 5th and 7th companies were on the
Broyés road to the left, the 6th and 8th were in the
wood to the right. The enemy artillery had appre-
ciably stretched out its fire. The men waited, calm and
confident. " One last effort/' Colonel Lestoquoi had
said to them*

Some of them were even joyful, as, with a curious look
on their faces, they touched the points of their bayonets.
Already the smell of powder, the game of death had
touched them. . . . Major de Beaufort had drawn on
his white gloves ; he now took up the little cane he
always carried. He took one last proud look over his
men, standing armed and motionless ; then, out of a
heart beating with great hopes, he cried in a firm voice,
44 Forward, my lads ! For France ! Charge ! " The
battalion leapt forward as if in a single bound, after its
chief.

the field of honour at the side of his chief on October 13, 1916. He
had the honour of bearing the battalion colours on the Great Place
before the Hall at Ypres on the occasion of the decorations in honour
of the exploit of Mondement. (Note, E. C.) It is this hero, with the flag
of the 2nd battalion, who is represented in the photograph facing p» 193*

192 Foch at the Marne

It was a charge of deep close masses* The men
shouted and sang* The bugles sounded and quickened
their call till it became a veritable gymnastic feat*
Bullets whistled past. Soldiers fell on every side*
Faster ! Faster 1 The fusillade was infernal* Our 75's
had made a breach in the wall of the garden* Major de
Beaufort made straight for it* He stopped for a moment
at the foot of a tree to decide on his tactics* " Ah 1 one
can't see them yet* these Boches/' he murmured* A
bullet right in the middle of his forehead knocked him
down* dead* His men wished to carry away his body*
But the best way to avenge him was to advance* Lieu-
tenant Génois gathered them together and led them
towards the breach* " Through the breach* my lads I
through the breach 1 We will make a good shell ! " he
cried* A private called Durand made ready to jump
through* when Lieutenant Parpaillon laid his hand on
his shoulder : " Stop I Let me go first*" — " Pass on, sir/'
Durand replied* " I will follow you*" Parpaillon was by
this time in the breach* his sword in his hand* " For-
ward ! " he shouted* A bullet struck him in the head*
he fell down dead* Captain Secondât de Montesquieu*
on his side* had reached the wall* his sword drawn* and
attended by Atlé* his sergeant* While trying to climb
over* they fell ; both killed by the same bullet* Lieu-
tenant d'Yturbide at once rushed forward* and* in spite
of a violent fire* did not hesitate to recover all the
precious private possessions from the pockets of his
beloved captain* Lieutenant Rochier* wounded in the
hand* refused to wait to have it dressed*

" It is nothing/' he said* " it is nothing* Forward I ff

Tfie Fanion (

Details of the Battle - 193

He tied a handkerchief carelessly round it, and went
on more eagerly than ever. Sergeant Guyot afterwards
rallied the men who had followed this heroic lieutenant,
killed in the retreat» Our bugles continued to sound the
charge, ever more loudly* Lieutenant Marchand had
boldly pushed his machine-guns forward, but he
was soon wounded» Lieutenant Floquet was killed,
Second-lieutenant Noël mortally wounded» During
this time some of our men had crept along the wall of the
enclosure» and, making a short ladder, were firing into
the kitchen garden on the grey uniforms» A zouave
(the zouaves were attacking by the principal entrance)
had succeeded in taking cover behind the gate, and
quite coolly» aiming carefully as if at target practice»
he picked off his men one by one»

But the order of retreat was now heard» Captain
Villers, Lieutenants Génois and d'Yturbide collected
the men ; it was with sore hearts that they left the
body of their commanding officer on the ground» but
it would have been madness to attempt to carry it
away in full sight of the enemy»

The battalion was re-formed behind the wood» Alas 1
what blanks ! How many were missing 1 The death of
Major de Beaufort made all hearts heavy with despair»
Every one had had such confidence in him ! His
soldiers loved him like a father» And he would certainly
have risen to the highest rank» Many of the men wept
openly» But here Captain de la Taille arrived from
the brigade» " We must charge again/' he announced»
" after another artillery preparation on the castle»"

Well ! if it was necessary» we would charge again !

N

194 Foch at the Marne

What spirit there was among these splendid lads of
Cholet 1

And this charge, not to mention its moral signifi-
cance, had a positive result* Terrorised — that is the
only word for it — by this avalanche of men which
advanced in spite of their machine-guns, a good
number of Germans ran away to the rear, and were
killed in their retreat by the machine-guns of our
ist battalion and those of a section of the 2nd tirail-
leurs, commanded by Lieutenant Lucas, which was
guarding the approaches to the village*

All the same the enemy occupied the position in
sufficiently large numbers to be able to offer a pro-
longed defence* Reconnoitring parties found him
everywhere in possession, and most of the patrols
returned» having sustained losses* A brave sergeant
called Pierron met his death in that way* Three bands-
men of the Cross of Malta and three stretcher-bearers
of the Red Cross were dispatched to the north-west of
the castle* where it was supposed there were some of
our wounded* They had hardly accomplished half of
their hazardous journey across open ground when a
bugle call of three notes in harmony — what a melan-
choly call 1 — was heard, followed by a volley of rifle
shots* 1 A bandsman* Albert Ménard, and a stretcher-
bearer* René Bertron, were hit successively* the one in
the arm, the other in the leg* It was decidedly necessary
to use the guns* Colonel Lestoquoi ordered up one of
the big guns* He was waiting for it* when towards

1 This is one example among many which prove that the Germans
did not respect the Convention of Geneva*

Details of the Battle 195

5 p*m* a lieutenant of cuirassiers arrived on horseback
followed by his men. He was making a reconnaissance,
but he put himself entirely at the disposal of the com-
mander of the 77th*

" Can I be of any service { "

44 1 must absolutely have a gun brought up/' replied
the colonel* " If you could go and bring it forward i "

44 1 will make it my first duty/' replied the lieu-
tenant*

And he set off at once* A few minutes later the team
galloped up ; the gun was then carried forward 400
metres by the men and placed facing the gate of the
castle* Acting on the same inspiration* Colonel Eon
had two guns of the Naud battery carried up by the
2nd battalion to the south of the castle, on the right of
the Broyés road* As it was a cloudy evening and the
light was fading, the enemy did not observe this
manœuvre* Explosive shells now reached the out-
buildings and set them on fire* It was after this,
apparently, that the German retreat was sounded ;
some of our men heard it* At 6*30 a second attack was
carefully prepared, to be launched on an enemy who
had no suspicion that it was impending, and at seven
o'clock exactly, Colonel Lestoquoi, Major de Courson
de la Villeneuve, and Captain Béziers-la-Fosse entered
the gate of the castle without a shot having been fired*
The enemy had abandoned the position, leaving many
dead on the paths round the castle, in the garden, and
in the park*

There were some hand-to-hand encounters in the
village, which our men proceeded to clear out* Many

196

Foch at the Marne

/

prisoners were taken* The 2nd battalion was ordered
to bivouac in the woods to the right of the Broyés
road, where it spent the night in the rain» The 3rd
battalion took up its quarters in the great court of the
castle ; the men made their coffee over fires built with
the small wooden beams of the outhouses, the stable,
and garage, where the skeleton of an automobile was
found beneath the debris. The men talked and joked*
The bright light of these burning buildings and the
hopes raised by the preparation of a meal cheered
them* And had they not been told that early to-
morrow morning the food supply would arrive* bread
and fresh meat i

In the great salon the remains of a meal were found
on the tables— uncorked bottles* half-filled glasses
of champagne* Colonel Lestoquoi assembled all the
remaining officers of his staff in this salon* on the walls
of which the flag of the 77th was spread out* The
success of the regiment must be acclaimed* But there
were many losses to deplore — and what losses 1

" I wish only for one thing/' he said in closing* his
voice thick with emotion ; " that I may die as fine a
death as de Beaufort, as Montesquieu ; that I may die
as they did, facing the enemy in victory ♦" And he sent
the following laconic message to General Humbert :

" I hold the village and castle of Mondement* I
will remain here over-night*"

It was a night of pitch darkness» without stars* with
big* heavy clouds* In the principal avenue» where the
flames of the burning outhouses cast an angry glow
over the sky» giving it an almost theatrical effect* Colonel

Details of the Battle 197

Eon, the commander of the 36th brigade, dictated his
report by torch-light» The stretcher-bearers searched
all round the castle to pick up the wounded» Every
stretcher party was preceded by a lantern-bearer» By
the fugitive gleams of these pale lights one saw men of
the and battalion lying on the ground wounded and
unconscious. Ah 1 their stupefaction to find that
they had come living out of that hell ; their sorrow on
learning how many of their comrades» how many of
their chiefs had fallen ! Through the black darkness
of the night one could hear the stretcher-bearers
calling» " No more wounded i " And the lanterns
came and went and crossed each other's paths» these
lanterns whose pale light shone on horribly mutilated
bodies* mangled trees» shell holes (from one of these
craters a little dog» lying down at the foot» looked at us
without moving as we passed)» We recovered the body
of Major de Beaufort» of Captain de Montesquieu and
many others» Major de Beaufort had a smile on his
face ; he was not disfigured ; there was only a little
blood on his right eyebrow, and his red ktpi with its
four gold stripes was torn» A dreadful smell of putre-
faction spread all over the place from the bodies of
the poor dead horses» And what a scene that was
inside the castle ! One entered the great salon through
the picture gallery» Lamps had been lit in the four
corners» The wounded were lying everywhere — on
the cushions» the sofas» the beautifully-embroidered
curtains» among the priceless furniture» the tapestries»
the bibelots, the art treasures ; while from the walls
the ancestors in full evening dress and wigs looked

Details of the Battle 199

Baur, of the Morocco division, which the Germans

had failed to bury, was^ found in a room. All night

' " i» guns continued to fire

a fine rain which ceased
were occupied in digging
and Captain de Montes-
«e cemetery. The colours
endered the last honours.

plan on the left wall of
osition of the graves. All
I flowers in the gardens,
ras with which they lined
laid their heroic comrades.
1 left Mondement. That
d at Fère-Champenoise, 1
ith they set out in pursuit

i mentioned in the army
:t on Sept. 9.

Eue Chamard.

this affair, Jules Brosset,
the 8th half-*ection of the
las written to say that the

Boulin * should be added
on the tops of the houses to let us
scape over the roofe.
ause his promotion was so recent,

his tombstone in the cemetery at
ame cemetery is the misspelling of

given as Athe.

2oo Foch at the Marne

to the list of officers and non-commissioned officers
who fell at Mondement, killed during the first charge,
at the side of Major de Beaufort* Also Sergeant
Queneau, who was killed that morning in the wood*

44 What I remember most distinctly about that
day/' adds Sergeant Brosset, "was when Captain
Villers reassembled us after the first charge* We pro-
ceeded on patrol towards the northern boundary of
the Allemant wood, to form a screen so that the guns
might be moved forward unperceived by the enemy*
We were lying flat on the leaves, for the shells were
passing very low. At the third hit, the left tower,
which faced us, was set on fire, and soon the whole
left wing was in flames* Darkness had nearly closed
in* Hardly had the fire of the 75's died away» when the
whole 3rd battalion passed by us at the charge* Then,
without orders* we .also rushed forward ; when we
arrived at the other side of the castle* and drew
breath» there was not one unwounded German left in
the place* The next day we buried our dead* and on
their tomb» which was nearly opposite the gate of the
castle on the other side of the road» we laid a crown
of dahlias and chrysanthemums» gathered from the
flower-border of the inner court* ♦ ♦ ♦ The leader of
my section that day was Lieutenant Renault* who was
to fall at Zonnebeke* near Ypres, two months later/'

Details of the Battle 201

nozay, moràins, and the grave of
Sergeant Guerre

The different spellings of certain names on our staff
maps, and on the maps of the Ministry of the Interior,
has led to confusion and sometimes to duplication
very prejudicial to the clearness of facts» That accounts
for the confusion as to the recapture of the farm of
Hazel, or the farm of Mont-Août, or the farm of
Nozay or Nozet, situated near Mont-Août*

44 They are all the same place/' writes the learned
Dr* Plicot of Fère-Champenoise* 44 It is the farm
situated on Hill 118* Longnon's Dictionnaire topo-
graphique de la Marne (1891) says on p. 204 : 4 Nozay,
farm, commune of Connantre ; Mill of Nozay (1835,
staff map) ; Nozet (i860, Cornet-Paulus) ; Notait
(1862, Guérard, p* 224)/ It is easy to understand, after
noticing the differences of all these maps, that the
form ' Ferme de Hozet ' given on the staff maps of
1889 is an orthographical error* The word should be
written Nozay» Longnon, a great authority, approves
this version» In the cantonal atlas of the Marne (1877)
one finds on Hill 118 4 F e Nozet/ While we are on the
subject of the staff maps and the way they spell the
names of places, I notice that they indicate to the
north of Fère-Champenoise, 4 Morains-le-Petit/ It
should be simply, as Longnon puts it, ' Mo rains/ For
there is no Morains-le-Grand* I suppose that the
first name is due to the confusion which has arisen
between the name of the village of Morains and that

202 Foch at the Marne

of the stream which has its source there : thé Petit-
Morain*"

Dr* Plicot finishes his letter by a communication
about the grave of Sergeant Guerre* which has been
identified, thanks to the researches of M* Lucien
Landréat, marble -cutter and municipal councillor*
who remained at his post during the German occupa-
tion* and who is " the one man in F ère who knows all
the military graves in that neighbourhood/' The plate
which marks this grave still bears the inscription*
" Sergeant-major X ♦ ♦ ♦* of the 66th of the line/* but
there is no doubt* after the evidence of Dr* Plicot and
M* Landréat* that it is the grave of Sergeant Guerre*
It bears the number 640* and is situated near the
Vaure, between the Haute-Rochelle and Basse-
Rochelle roads* one kilometre and a half from the
church of Fere*

Aviation in Foch's Army

We borrow the following extract of Brindejonc des
Moulinais* Journal de bord from the Guerre Aérienne*
It refers to the period from the 4th to the 10th Sept**
and throws some light on the part played by aviation
in the centre of our army*

Sept. 4* — Reconnaissance* Rethel-Reims* Came
down at Tours - sur - Marne to report to General
Foch ; then at Heitz-le-Maurupt, to the staff of
Langle de Cary*

Second reconnaissance on Somme-Suippe and

Details of the Battle 203

Cuperly ; landed at Saint-Di&er* To-day's was the
maximum speed of retreat attained in one day* How
far are we to retreat ( To the Loire, some say, to the
Central Massif, according to others» It is terrible 1

Sept. 5, — Reconnaissance, Saint - Dizier, Reims,
Fismes, Bergères-les-Vertus, where we descended to
report to General Foch, who is in command, it is said,
of three army corps, forming an army which is from
this time to come between us and the army of Franchet
d'Espérey on our left* We saw four German army
corps to-day marching in order of battle across the
camp of Chalons and the neighbourhood of Reims*
What feelings it aroused I but what a splendid spec-
tacle it was 1 I dropped two bombs on a large bivouac
and saw dense smoke rising from the very centre of
it* The bombs had gone home* We then went on
to Saint-Rémy-en-Bouzemont near Vitry-le-François,
where we descended ; we lunched off a crust of bread,
then went on to Brienne-le-Château*

I heard afterwards that my bombs had wounded a
captain and three men*

Sept. 6* — Reconnaissance on Brienne, Chalons,
Vertus ; alighted at Pargny to give our information to
General Foch* The Germans occupy Chalons and
the district of Ay* One division has its headquarters
already at Vertus*

Sept. 7* — Reconnaissance on Vitry and Chalons*
Second flight to drop bombs*

Sept. 8* — Reconnaissance on Vitry and Chalons*
We were told off to watch the arrival of enemy rein-
forcements on the Chalons highroads ; other machines

204 Foch at the Marne

were to watch the east of Vitry-le-Francois. The
battle was raging below, following a line decidedly
east and west* To the right this line seemed to incline
towards the north-east of Verdun* To the west, it
passed by Sompuis and inclined towards the Marshes
of Saint-Gond*

A second flight with twenty-three shells : I dropped
them on the heavy batteries to the east of Vitry : then
I disturbed an artillery brigade (echelons of ravitaille-
ment), which scattered in every sense, but reassembled
as soon as I had gone* I discovered the positions of
twenty-four guns on the line to the west of Vitry* I
marked them on the map at 1/80000, and informed
the corps concerned*

Sept. 9. — Reconnaissance, Chalons : discovered new
batteries* I alighted at Meix-Tiercelin by the XVIIth
corps* which had just changed its general* It is now
commanded by General Dumas*

Second reconnaissance on Mailly and Sommesous*

Sept. 10* — Reconnaissance as usual with Captain
Pujo* He had also noticed that on our left (4th army)*
towards the camp of Mailly* there were no forces
opposing us* There was a gap* a space between the
two German armies* with only some cavalry a long way
behind* Our division of cavalry was in the camp at
Mailly. The obvious thing was for us to drive in a
division or a corps if possible* General Dubois was
charged with this task* We watched closely for the
moment when this movement could be effected with-
out being noticed by the enemy* and we flew over
Sompuis* Mailly* Sommesous* Lenharrée, Coole* in

Details of the Battle 205

spite of heavy clouds. And we never saw any German
reserves*

Second reconnaissance with Captain Thiron. We
alighted beside the XXIst corps, informing them as
to the positions of batteries and troops, telling them
also that our troops were too far in the rear, that our
guns did not carry far enough, and that there were no
troops on our left.

While we were at Saint-Ouen, the general sent us
a message that the cavalry had signalled an enemy
division in front of him. We told him that that was
not the case. But we proposed to make another recon-
naissance. We set off, saw a French infantry division
which was marching slowly forward, sustained by the
artillery. We also saw the French cavalry division in
the camp at Mailly. We flew low down, for it was
late. No Germans. We returned to carry our informa-
tion to Saint-Ouen. We had made three reconnais-
sances. Returned to Brienne for the night.

Brindejonc des Moulinais.

The Battle-field of Normée
Communicated by Élie Chamard

Alphonse Constant, a private soldier, who at the
time of the battle of the Marne belonged to the 66th,
gave me the following account of his experiences :

44 On that tragic night of Sept. 7, we bivouacked
in the woods, five kilometres to the north of Fère-
Champenoise ; we were in reserve. The tired soldiers

2o6 Foch at the Marne

were sleeping confidently, their haversacks serving as
pillows, when at dawn, about 3*30, a fusillade, sharp
and near, startled every one awake* The captain
shouted : 4 Fix bayonets ! ' then : 4 Down ! Down !
Fire I * The Boches were on us, only twenty metres
away. One could hardly distinguish them among
the fir branches in the pale light of the early morning*
What did it all mean I What had become of our
covering troops i There was a moment's confusion!
aggravated by firing on our rear, carried out in error
by the foot-soldiers of our 93rd. We were obliged to
fall back, that the whole force should not be massacred»
The Boches advanced in dense masses and outflanked
us on our wings. We crossed a stream* We found
units from different regiments, especially from the
32nd infantry* The officers gathered together in con-
sultation» The regiment was surrounded» There was
no liaison between the companies» What was to be
done i Majors de Villentrois and Rabuceau, Captains
Milhau and Lachouque, decided to attempt to break
through» We chose a likely place ; we were massed in
a wood beyond which lay a large clearing, and, cost
what it might, we were obliged to make our way over it»
The men defiled one by one across this clearing» I was
hardly half-way over when a bullet in my leg knocked
me over suddenly» I tried in vain to get up j I saw my
comrades pass by me one by one to the charge» I
understood that they could not carry me away» A
terrible thought took possession of me» I should have
to die there» Bullets whistled incessantly over my
head» I dragged myself along as far as I could to gain

Details of the Battle 207

the cover of a bush, but I was still within the zone of
fire of the German machine-guns* As I was trying to
get under cover, a wounded German a short distance
away made me a sign to come nearer* Fearing a ruse, I
showed him my rifle, which I had hung on to, and
made him understand that he should come to me*
He was wounded in the face and thigh* I applied his
dressing for him» And with the help of a dictionary I
attempted conversation* But the fusillade, which had
been resumed, was terrible* Boches arrived running,
fixed bayonets in their hands. They signed to us to
lie down flat* I heard cries, imprecations, and, after a
few moments which seemed like centuries, the fusillade
moved further away* Then masses of grey uniforms
appeared from every side and spread all over the* wood*
It was probably about midday* German doctors came
towards us* They made us rejoin other wounded
French soldiers, whom I was glad to see again* On our
asking, * What are you going to do with us i f the
doctor replied in excellent French : ' Your newspapers
tell horrible lies» No German soldier ever ill-treated a
wounded French soldier*' A few boxes of cigarettes
Were distributed among us, and a little chocolate which
the Germans found for us in the haversacks of the dead,
who were lying all over the ground* Then the wounded
who were able to walk were led away* The others were
left behind* A doctor cried to us, * Patience I We will
come back this evening to fetch you*' * * * Alas !
night fell * * * passed slowly away ♦ ♦ ♦ and all the
long hours of the next day* In the afternoon Uhlans
rode through our wood* More merciful than the

2o8 Foch at the Marne

doctors, they dismounted and went to the river to get
us some water to drink* Then some German soldiers
passed at the gallop* At last stretcher-bearers appeared
in sight ; but they could only carry away a few non-
commissioned officers from our group* Another night
fell, dismally* We passed it in intolerable restlessness*
It was very hot» We were hungry* We were thirsty»
Fever caused us more suffering even than our wounds»
We gave up all hope» A deadly torpor took possession
of us» But suddenly — it was about four o'clock — we
heard sounds» horses' feet» We opened our eyes» What
was our amazement, our joy» to see French chasseurs
appearing 1 They told us of the retreat of the Germans»
of our victory» We at once revived» we were filled with
new life» That same evening I was moved to a school-
room at F ère-Champenoise*"

The Surprise of Villeseneux

Communicated by X ♦ ♦ »

Ever since the previous day the Guards and the
Saxons had been retreating» That was the result of
Foch's famous flank manoeuvre executed by the 42nd
division* which Franchet d'Espérey, victorious all along
the line since the 7th* had allowed him to move from
his left over to his right» The 42nd division was
directed towards Connantray» but about midday the
162nd, which formed a brigade with the 151st under the
command of Colonel Trouchaud» was stopped on the

Details of the Battle 209

Normée road by superior enemy forces. The 151st,
which was on advance guard on the Vaure near la
Fontaine d'Ivoire, immediately sent the Boutain
battalion to its aid» Towards two o'clock, wishing to
break this resistance, Grossetti, in command of the 42nd
division, deployed the whole of his artillery (fifteen
batteries) to the north of Fère-Champenoisè ; he then
ordered his brigadiers to advance in three columns
on the line Clamanges-Villeseneux-Soudron : the
left column under Colonel Trouchaud with the 162nd ;
the central column under Colonel Devïlle with two
battalions of the 151st ; the column on the right under
General Krien, with the 94th*

The general headquarters of the division was at
Villeseneux*

I was attached to the central group as staff-officer,
and I remember that at 5 p*m* Colonel Deville, seized
by justifiable anxiety on hearing the guns growling
incessantly on his left, asked Colonel Trouchaud if,
perhaps, the orders had not been modified,

" Not in the least/* replied the commander of the
brigade.

After that, farewell to hesitation ; we must go
forward*

We set out* It was about 5*30* The sun was sinking
fast* A heavy, sickly smell rose from the ground,
saturated with blood, a smell which continued to
distress us all the evening* Dead and wounded lay all
round* When we turned towards Hill 138, we met
the Boutain battalion* Like us, it found difficulty in
advancing under the fire which searched the fir woods

210 Foch at the Marne

along the railway line ; and as it was impossible for us
to get our waggons across the slope of the line, we
decided to go along it as far as the village of Lenharrée,
where we expected to meet Krien's column» We did
not know that it had been held back at the last moment
by Grossetti, who had also sent an order to us to sus-
pend this movement» But under the hail of bullets no
estafette, no liaison officer had been able to get near
Colonel De ville* Lenharrée» which had been evacuated
only a few hours earlier, was full of dead : part of the
village was in flames» Everything had been pillaged,
destroyed* As he does still to-day, then also the enemy
left a desert behind him*

Fir woods and gorse extend all the way from Len-
harrée to Villeseneux» One only emerges from one
little wood to enter another» Night had fallen, and it
was not easy to find our way in the labyrinth of foot-
paths — more like tracks than paths — which intersected
this clump of trees, full of ambushes and snares»

We had captured a Saxon soldier on the way» a
talkative person who seemed only too delighted to be
finished with the war» His information led us to
believe that the enemy was everywhere in full retreat»
And indeed on the road from Normée to Villeseneux
we heard a continual coming and going of waggons»
Big the cavalry patrols which we had sent out to left
and right had not succeeded in coming in contact with
the outposts of the 162nd or the 94th, which were
supposed to cover our movement» And at all costs the
colonel thought it prudent to make certain tactical dis-
positions to avoid a surprise» We were ^progressing "

Details of the Battle 211

all the time, but silently, step by step, examining our
ground carefully with searchlights»

We arrived in this way at the edge of the Bois du
Mont, where the colonel made us halt for an hour*
As yet not a single shot had been fired $ the woods we
had crossed were empty as far as the enemy was con-
cerned, but we had been so tired before, and this noc-
turnal journey through fir woods — where every branch
might possibly conceal an enemy— had been of such a
nerve-racking and anxious nature, that when at last
we saw the plain of Villeseneux unfold itself before us,
when the great steeple of the parish church came in
sight, we heaved a sigh of relief» It must have been
about 10*30 at this time» Soon after eleven o'clock the
colonel had the bugle sounded, and while the two
companies were coming out of the wood, he and
Captain Segonne set out at a trot, very rashly, in the
direction in which he expected to find our advance
guards» They had not gone 200 metres when his
orderly was stopped by a German sentinel»

"Werdat"

Shots rang out ; two men fell down t instantane-
ously the whole horizon was lighted up ; the rat-tat of
machine-guns was heard» Bursts of fire descended on
our troops from the church tower of Villeseneux» The
151st gathered in companies round its chief, who had
not dismounted, and who, to restore order in a moment
of surprise and alarm, commanded the regimental call
to ,be sounded» » « «

The effect of that call seemed almost magical» As if
by some enchantment the machine-guns were silenced*

212 Foch at the Marne

At the same time a sound of galloping horses and
waggon-wheels was heard from the Normée-Ville-
seneux road» What was passing along it i Was the
enemy decamping i

Not yet, at any rate, for he now began to fire again
on the borders of the wood, killing some of our men
and one of the colonel's horses. Shells were bursting
all round* But were they German shells i The officers
of the colonel's staff thought it might perhaps be an
error of the 162nd, which had been ordered to occupy
Villeseneux before us, and the outposts of which might
perhaps be firing on us by mistake, taking us for
Germans. The colonel, who still heard the Wer da t
of the German sentinel ringing in his ears, would not
allow himself to be persuaded of this, and wishing to
assure himself of the real facts of the case, he turned
his horse into the wood, accompanied by a sergeant,
and trotted off towards the Normée-Villeseneux road*
There at least he would be able to find out the truth*
He learnt it almost at once by a volley* which* how-
ever, did not cause him to dismount ; a patrol which
had pushed forward towards another corner of the
wood had flung itself on a German post* which was
now falling back* * * *

There was no longer any doubt : Villeseneux was
certainly in the hands of the enemy* and Colonel
Deville, who had ventured forward to the German
lines without hearing anything of the Krien column or
that of Colonel Trouchaud, thought they must Have
succeeded in disengaging themselves from the enemy*
The order was immediately given to turn back along
the road to Lenharrée*

Details of the Battle 213

It was not till the morning, when we again set out
for Villeseneux, that everything was explained* Owing
to the fact that we had not received Grossetti's counter-
order (Grossetti had been unable to break the enemy's
resistance on the first attempt as he had hoped), our
column had continued to advance alone, and chance
having opened a gap, a breach, between Lenharrée
and Villeseneux, our column had passed without
knowing it through this breach on to the flanks of the
German division charged with stopping our 42nd
division before Normée*

According to the inhabitants of Villeseneux, this
division was commanded by a prince of the blood —
probably the too celebrated Eiteh

The rest of the story can, be imagined : the enemy
thought his front turned, and under the chill breath of
fear all his defensive system suddenly crumbled down»
During the night, Normée, Soudron, and Villeseneux
were silently evacuated* The strategic retreat of yester-
day had changed to-day into dismayed flight* ♦ ♦ ♦

how foch came to have two bridges to cross

the Marne

On the morning of September 11, General de Séré-
ville, commander of the dragoon brigade, took over
the command of the division, General de l'Espée
awaiting the Mitry division at Poivres»

Sommesous was attacked by the 60th reserve divi-
sion. In order to support it, Séréville exerted his efforts

214 Foch at the Marne

on Soudé-Sainte-Croix, from which he drove out the
enemy about ten o'clock» After having collected the
various units of the division, with the exception of
Sailly's brigade which General de l'Espée kept at
Poivres till the evening, we marched towards the Marne
as quickly as the bad weather, the exhaustion of the
horses — which for several days had been falling by
the roadside in great numbers from fatigue — and the
resistance of the enemy rearguards, formed of groups
of laggards; allowed. A fortunate chance willed that
the two detachments of the 5th cuirassiers, which the
general sent on the evening of the nth towards the
bridges of the Marne, should prevent the Germans
from blowing them up* Colonel de Cugnac caused his
chasseurs-à-pied to attack the bridge of Sogny during
the night, just when the German engineers were about
to place their explosives* The arrival of Lieutenant
Labouchère and his reconnoitring party at the bridge
of Chalons, also during the night, caused the cyclist
rearguard, which the enemy had left there, ta decamp,
and when daylight came, melinite petards were found
abandoned on the bridge.

The Germans blew up all the other bridges in the
neighbourhood, that of Mairy up the river, and those
of Matougue and Aulnay down the river»

On the 12th, Lieutenant-Colonel de Gouvello, who
commanded the squadrons of the 60th reserve divi-
sion, learned from a German captain of engineers,
who was taken prisoner, that he was on his way to pre-
pare for the destruction of the bridge of Sogny when
the attack of the chasseurs scattered his men*

Details ôf the Battle 215

That was how, thanks to the diligence of General
de Séréville* Foch's army had two bridges available to
cross the Marne on the morning of the 12th»

The Spies 1

When war broke out there was probably not one
district of France or Belgium which German spies had
not explored with the greatest care and precision* The
enemy had taken every hypothesis into considera-
tion, and in certain districts, which seemed to lend
themselves to decisive engagements, he had made sure
that he would not be fighting on unknown ground ♦
Certain channels of the rivers and canals, important
strategic centres, had been 'the object of special atten-
tion on his part* He had foreseen everything, even the
retreat of his own troops* and had organised to this
end* in time of peace* a system of permanent fortifica-
tions leading right up to the frontier* of which the
quarries of the Soissonais remain to this day the most
remarkable example*

In Champagne his network of espionage was especi-
ally close round the Marshes of Saint-Gond* That
great green marsh* eighteen kilometres in extent*
bastioned by massive hills with precipitous cliffs,
inspired him with legitimate apprehension* Did he

*We think it interesting to reproduce this article taken from a
series published in September, 19x6, in the Petit Parisien. It confirms
— too late, alas 1 — the revelations published by M. Léon Daudet
in his Avant Guerre, which has the honour and merit of having de-
nounced the peril more than a year before the events of 1914*

2 1 6 Foch at the Marne

picture to himself the rôle these marshes would play
in the coming war i He knew, at all events, from
history what a formidable barrier they were able to
put in the way of invasion ; the means of escape, the
resources of every sort, even improvised resources,
which they could offer for the resistance of invasion*

There was no way of escape from the straight high-
road, no possibility of manoeuvring in skirmishing
order over these muddy depths, which were ready, on
the slightest deviation from the road, to engulf the
unwary* It was necessary to have conquered in the
marshes, to have negotiated their snares, their mys-
terious footpaths, in order to strike a decisive blow*
That demanded an apprenticeship* And it was just
this apprenticeship which the enemy staff had imposed
on its officers*

Stationed for the most part at Reims, their head-
quarters, they spread out from there quite naturally
to. Villevenard, Oyes, Reuves, Morains, Aulniseux,
Saint-Prix, and so on to those villages which com-
manded the debouches from the marshes* They made
no secret of their nationality; they had formed a
society, the German Society of Reims, which figured
still in the year-books of 1914 ; and they belonged to
the most diverse professions ; photographers, agents,
bankers, agents of the Champagne trade, shopkeepers,
and so on, and all without exception were officers*
They played their parts so skilfully that they deceived
the most suspicious*

Later, after the declaration of war, one went to the
other extreme, and saw spies on every side*

Details of the Battle 217

For example, nothing will convince the natives of
that district that the Anglo-French Society, which was
constituted in 1913 under the direction of M» Ph«
Richement for the exploitation of the marshes —
nothing will convince the natives that this is not a
fictitious society, whose business is anything but to
experiment as to the properties of heat contained in the
marshes» This society also sent prospectors to Brennilis
(Finistère), and entered into negotiations for the acqui-
sition of a piece of land 500 hectares in extent in the
marshes of Yunn ; here and there it was proposed to
extract sulphate of ammonia from the depths by
an electrical process, and to make the residue into
briquettes* But, as bad luck would have it, one of the
engineers engaged in this work had a foreign accent»
It needed nothing more ; he was declared to be a Boche»
The Mairie of Vaucresson went into the matter» and
it is now proved beyond doubt that M» Hanrot was a
Frenchman through and through»

But the Germans did not wait till the eve of the war
to acquaint themselves with the Marshes of Saint-
Gond» Their spies had already swarmed over all the
farms of the district» They called themselves Swiss*
Luxemburgers, and» disguised in the smock of the
shepherd* they pursued their explorations from pasture
to pasture» In one of the younger officers of an Uhlan
patrol which was making its way towards Saint-Prix»
a former employee of the cheese factory of Baye was
recognised» At Ëpoye a cowherd» who had been there
for five years» disappeared on the first rumours of
mobilisation, and reappeared again at the head of a

2 1 8 Foch at the Marne

platoon of German scouts» " Oh, Father So-and-so,
you don't remember me i Please give me the key of
your cellar, which I wish to pay a little visit/' At
Damilar it was the same story, except that instead of
working under the blouse of a cowherd, the spy ap-
peared in the guise of a travelling clerk» Once when he
had come to offer his services, one of his clients had
snubbed him, saying, " I have no time* It is Sunday,
and I am going to Mass/' In Sept» 1914 he returned
to sneer at her, his monocle in his eye, clad in his
officer's tunic» " Well, Madame X » » », it is not
Sunday to-day» Can we settle up our little business
together i " Another spy had, from time immemorial*
driven about the country in one of the little Caïfia
carriages ; he travelled from farm to farm in this little
vehicle with his dog, and took orders — and notes* » » »
And who did not know the little travelling draper of
Reims?

" Here is the seller of coupons, sheap, very sheap 1 "
he would cry, in his execrable German accent» He
had a horse and carriage, and travelled all over the
country; he was good company, even obsequious,
allowing his little carriage to be overturned, allowing
one to mock at his vile accent» He said he was an
Austrian» He was really a Saxon captain who was
killed at Connantre» 1

There is no end to stories of this sort» Sometimes
it was German officers, who, under pretext of introduc-

1 There must be some mistake here, for the only German officer
buried at Connantre was called von Turner and belonged to the
Guards»

Details of the Battle 219

ing chemical fertilisers to the farms, travelled round
the marshes in their motors; sometimes,asat la Verrerie,
it was an isolated officer, an amateur sportsman, who
installed himself in the neighbourhood of the marshes
and stayed all the season to shoot wild duck» And
naturally, when he returned to this region, he took a
malicious pleasure in making himself known to his
dupes*

"Yesl it is I myself. ♦ ♦ ♦ You did not expect to see
mtfheint ♦ ♦ ♦ Confess that you are silly fools 1 " 1

But the most extraordinary story of this sort was that
of a good farmer of the neighbourhood of Bannes,
whose cows were grazing on the marshes, whence they
took flight at the first sound of the guns. He was much
distressed when they did not return : the poor beasts
had not been milked for three days, and must be suffer-
ing agonies. Not expecting to see them again, he began
to ascend to Bannes» These parts of the marshes have
each their particular name ; there is the Patte-d'Oie, the
Coin-à-Sophie, the Fosse-à-Renaud, and so on. This
farmer was going towards the Cul-de-Navaille. Being
a man of precaution, he had provided himself with two
bottles of claret and a basket of food» But he had
counted without his host : in making a détour to avoid
a German sentry, he came upon a big German officer,
seated on the borders of the marsh, gorging himself
with sausages. He began by confiscating one of the
farmer's bottles ; he emptied it at one gulp, wiped his

1 Mme. Lecourt, the proprietress of la Verrerie, tells us that she
harboured no German officer before the war, but that this incident
look place in another farm near the marshes»

2 2o Foch at the Marne

mouth with his hand, and then asked the farmer what
he was doing there* The other explained his business,
taking the risk of such an explanation.

" Well, my man/' replied the officer, in the peculiar
dialect of that part of the country, "if you go
towards the Cul-de-Navaille, you had better leave the
Coin-à-Sophie on your left and go by the Fosse-à-
Renaud, because about a hundred metres from- here
there is an outpost of my men who do not understand
French, and who might possibly cause you some
annoyance» . ♦ ♦"

Our good farmer was left open-mouthed with
astonishment : a German officer speaking the Cham-
pagne dialect and knowing the marshes as well as he
knew them himself, if not better ! He has not yet
recovered from his amazement.

And the worstvof 4t is that this officer was probably
not unique in his accomplishments. For a long time
back, owing to tJàeir minute inspection of every un-
dulation, every hollow of the ground, the Marshes of
Saint-Gond have held no secrets for the Germans;
these scoundrels have sounded all the depths, ac-
quainted themselves with all the paths and tracks.
They could have taught the natives a good deal about
their own marshes» And if the close examination they
made of the marshes did not save them from defeat, it
did at least save them from disaster : the marsh, which
should have engulfed them at the last, allowed its prey
to escape*

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Details of the Battle 221

The Ponds of Austerlitz and the Marshes of

Saint-Gond

My sketch of the battle of the Marshes of Saint-Gond
in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and M. Louis Madelines
study of the Victory of the Marne — a study of a general
nature and of lofty ideas — which appeared in the follow-
ing number of the Revue, inspired the editor of the
Démocrate de Délemont, M» A. Lombard, to write the
following curious and interesting observations on the
history of the Ponds of Austerlitz*

" The history of the wars of Napoleon as it is re-
counted by the historians of to-day/' he writes, " is
full of legends» One of the most characteristic and
insistent of these is that of the Ponds of Austerlitz/'

(We all remember the episode. The Russians were
fleeing in disorder over the frozen ponds of Moenitt
and Satschau, when the French guns shattered the ice
under their feet and the Russians were drowned by
thousands. Napoleon's thirtieth bulletin stated the
exact number, 20,000 Russians drowned. Ségur,
Marbot, and Serurier were witnesses of this dramatic
scene : they give us circumstantial details, and explain
how the fire of the French guns was effected.)

** But in spite of all that/' writes M. Lombard, " it
can no longer be doubted that this story was merely a
legend. These ponds, which had supplied the troops
with fish on their march to Vienna, were carefully
emptied and cleared out after the battle. Some guns
which had fallen in with their teams, and the body of

222 Foch at the Marne

one soldier, were found on the edge of one of them*
Nothing at all was found in the other* And the cold
had not been so intense as to cover the ponds with ice
thick enough to carry men and guns even for an instant*
But all that does not prevent even the most serious and
weighty manuals from repeating these details» from
mentioning long afterwards — as in the Histoire of
Thiers — the tragic episode of those ponds : 4 Those
who escaped the fire of the guns were drowned in the
lakes/

" It is easy to guess why we have recalled this
incident ; it is because the legend of the Ponds of
Austerlitz has been repeated in that of the Marshes
of Saint-Gond» The cravings of the imagination are
always the same ; and if we lived in an epoch less exactly
informed» it is certain that the Marshes of Saint-Gond
would go down in history as the Tomb of the Prussian
Guard» Conscientious historians are endeavouring to
destroy this nascent and growing legend» Who knows
whether they will succeed i Or whether these marshes
of Champagne wilt not retain their sinister prestige i
Already one writer tells us that he has seen these ruth-
less marshes ' throw up in their undulations corpses
which emerged half out of the clay/

41 In the Revue des Deax Mondes of the zst and 15th
September» M» le Goffic and M» Madelin have put this
matter in its proper light» The Germans knew the
marshes perfectly ; moreover the marshes are partly
drained» The German retreat was effected after the
capture of the Castle of Mondement by the French» on
the night of Sept» 9» and the retreat was made over

Details of the Battle 223

good roads* The Germans lost men and material
certainly, but the marshes did not swallow them up*

" Historians will have one argument the more to
justify their mistrust, with which they are reproached,
regarding human evidence* But the retreat of the
Guard was certainly the decisive moment of the battle,
perhaps of the war* ' That which was swallowed up in
the marshes, that which foundered definitely in their
green depths, was more than a few crack battalions —
it was the prestige of the German army and of its
pretended invincibility/

41 With much more justice than the Ponds of
Austerlitz, the Marshes of Champagne deserve to be
remembered by the people* On this occasion, at least,
the reality is finer than the legend/'

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RTH
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